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JAMES OTIS 





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COPYRIGHT DEPOStR 



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Hannah of Kentucky 



A Story of the Wilderness Road 



BY 
JAMES OTIS J"<'<?Jji->T— 




NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



r^s^ 



COPYEIGHT, 1912, BY 

JAMES OTIS KALER. 
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, 



HANNAH OF KENTXTCKT. 

w. p. I 



^ 



£aA320189 



FOREWORD 

The author of this series of stories for children 
has endeavored simply to show why and how the 
descendants of the early colonists fought their way 
through the wilderness in search of new homes. The 
several narratives deal with the struggles of those 
adventurous people who forced their way westward, 
ever westward, whether in hope of gain or in answer 
to ''the call of the wild," and who, in so doing, 
wrote their names with their blood across this 
country of ours from the Ohio to the Columbia. 

To excite in the hearts of the young people of 
this land a desire to know more regarding the build- 
ing up of this great nation, and at the same time 
to entertain in such a manner as may stimulate to 
noble deeds, is the real aim of these stories. In them 
there is nothing of romance, but only a careful, 
truthful record of the part played by children in 
the great battles with those forces, human as well 
as natural, which, for so long a time, held a vast 



4 FOREWORD 

portion of this broad land against the advance of 
home seekers. 

With the knowledge of what has been done by 
our own people in our own land, surely there is 
no reason why one should resort to fiction in order 
to depict scenes of heroism, daring, and sublime 
disregard of suffering in nearly every form. 

JAMES OTIS. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

At Boonesborough . . . . . . 9 

Beginning the Story ...... 10 

Mr. Boone on the Yadkin . . . .11 

Mr. Boone Decides to Move His Family . 12 

Making Ready for the Journey ... 14 

What We Wore . .16 

Driving Cattle and Sheep . . . -17 

Camping at Nightfall 19 

The Long Halt 21 

Jimmy Boone Goes to the Clinch . . .22 
Murder of Jimmy Boone and His Companions . 24 
A Tbie of Mourning . . . . . -25 
The Faint-hearted Return . . . .26 

A New Home 28 

Making Moccasins 29 

Tanning Leather ...... 30 

Governor Dunmore Sends for Mr. Boone . 32 

Our Home on the Clinch 34 

Household Duties 36 

Attacked by a Wildcat 39 

Fighting with the Wildcat . . . .41 
Mr. Boone and Father Return ... 43 

The Wilderness Road 45 

5 



CONTENTS 



Building the Forts . . . 
Setting out for Boonesborough 
Gathering Salt .... 
Boonesborough .... 
Precautions against an Attack 
Our Home in the Fort 
Making Ready for Cooking 
Furnishing the House 
The Hominy Block 
The Supply of Water 
Sports inside the Fort 
Wrestling and Running 
The Religion of the Indians 
Indian Babies .... 
Colonel Callaway Arriv^es 
News from the Eastern Colonies 
Venturing outside the Fort 
Dividing the Land 
Who Owned Kentucky? 
Making Ready to Build a Home 
Billy's Hard Lot 
Preparing Nettle-bark Flax 
Spinning and Soap Making . 
Broom Making .... 
More Indian Murders 
Indian '' Signs " . 
Woodcraft and Hunting . 
Pelts Used as Money 



CONTENTS 



The Petition of the Settlers . 

Making Sugar 

Building Fences and Shearing Sheep 

The Capture of the Glrls 

My Willful Thoughts 

Finding the Trail 

The Pursuit .... 

The Story Told by Jemima 

Elizabeth's Heroism . 

Rescuing the Girls 

The Alarm among the Settlers 

Indians on the Warpath . 

The First Wedding in Kentucky 

The Wedding Festivities . 

The Bride's Home 

The Housewarming 

Attacks by the Indians 

Besieged by the Savages . 

In the Midst of the Fight 

The Assault by the Indians 

Failure of the Assault 

The Watchfulness of the Indians 

The Sortie 

My Father Wounded . 

Our Wounded .... 



PAGE 
lOO 

III 

112 
114 

117 
119 
121 
123 
126 
128 

134 
137 
139 
140 
142 

143 
145 
146 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



AT BOONESBOROUGH 

iJ^^HEN a girl fourteen years old, who has 
never been to a real school, sits down 
to write a story, she ought to explain 
her boldness. More than two years 
ago my family came to Boonesborough 
over the Wilderness Road with Mr. 
Daniel Boone. We believed then that 
it would not be very long before the 
Indians would be driven out of Ken- 
tucky ; but they are making even more 
trouble for us now than when we first 
came here. 

It may not seem possible that the 
Indians, who are surrounding our fort and forcing us to 
stay inside, could have anything to do with my writing 
what mother says will be a story such as the children 
on the other side of the mountains have never read. 
Yet, were it not for them, I should be at work in the 
flax field to-day rather than sitting here in the cabin. 
Mother says it will help to keep my mind from the 

9 




lO 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



dangers which beset us, if I tell how we happen to 
be in Colonel Boone's fort on this day of August in 
the year 1777. 

BEGINNING THE STORY 



The greatest difficulty in writing a story of this sort 
is in beginning it. I do not know what to say first, and 

mother has no time 
to help me, for she 
is too busy spinning 
threads of nettle 
flax. This kind of 
work is very hard, 
but she must do it 
or we shall soon be 
without cloth for 
garments. The In- 
dians are prowling 
around so thickly 
that we women and 
children may not 
venture into the 
flax field even 
though all the men 
and boys in the fort go to guard us. 

It isn't to be supposed that any one outside our own 
family will ever see what I am writing, and yet I ought 




MR. BOONE ON THE YADKIN 



ri 



to begin it properly. Mother makes me laugh when 
she says that my grandchildren will be interested in 
reading of our life out here, where everything would 
be so beautiful but for the savages. The idea of a girl 
only fourteen years old writing something for her 
grandchildren to read ! 

MR. BOONE ON THE YADKIN 

My father's cabin stood next to the one built by Mr. 
Daniel Boone, near the Yadkin River in North Caro- 




lina, and I was born there a year after the birth of 
Mr. Boone's daughter, Jemima. 

I cannot begin to tell what a venturesome life Mr. 



12 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

Boone has led. Even before he married Rebecca 
Bryan, he went, some say, with General Braddock to 
fight the French and Indians. To this day I do not 
believe any one can explain how he ever came out alive 
from that terrible slaughter. Mother says he must 
have had enough fighting then, for he came back meek 
as any lamb and married Rebecca, expecting, I suppose, 
to become a planter. 

But he must have soon given up all idea of settling 
down, for I have been told that he spent the greater 
portion of his time with his brother, Squire, — isn't 
that an odd name ? — hunting and spying out the 
country until he came to believe there was no other 
place like the country which the Shawnee Indians 
called ^^Kaintuckee,'' or, as we say, Kentucky. 

It would take much too long if I should try to tell 
you all he did and suffered. At one time he stayed 
alone four months in the wilderness while Squire came 
back to the Yadkin for powder, bullets, and salt. 
Twice he was taken prisoner by the Indians; he lost 
all the furs that had been gathered and came very 
near to losing his life into the bargain. 

MR. BOONE DECIDES TO MOVE HIS FAMILY 

How strange things are in this world ! If Mr. 
Boone hadn't spent so much time hunting and trap- 



MR. BOONE DECIDES TO MOVE HIS FAMILY 13 

ping, or hadn't met Mr. John Finley, who told him 
about Kentucky, mother and I would probably now 
be at the old 
home on the Yad- 
kin, instead of out 
here beyond the 
mountains, be- 
sieged by Indians. 

However, Mr. 
Boone did hear 
about Kentucky 
from Mr. John 
Finley, and he did 
travel over the 
mountains, and 
the result of it 
all was that, four 
years ago, he came home with news of the wonderful 
land on this side of Cumberland Gap, where he intended 
to take his family. 

The stories he told of the new country in the hunt- 
ing grounds of the Indians stirred all his neighbors so 
greatly, that by the time he was ready to make a start 
five other families had agreed to go with him, and one of 
the five was ours. 

Mother said it was a big undertaking to cross the 
mountains with two small children — meaning Billy 




14 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

and me; but father was determined to follow Mr. 
Boone, and so we went. 

Before we started I thought, and so did Billy, that 
it would be very fine to go with the hunters. Some of 
the people seemed to think there was reason for regret 
in leaving behind us the homes in which we had lived 
so long ; but Billy and I looked upon it as a brave deed 
to follow Mr. Boone, the greatest hunter on the Yadkin. 

Jemima said it couldn't be any pleasure to her, be- 
cause she would be forced to spend every moment look- 
ing after the younger children while the rest of us were 
having a good time ; but we found out that it was all 
work and no play for each of us from the very hour of 
starting. 

MAKING READY FOR THE JOURNEY 

My father had two horses, on one of which mother 
was to ride, while the other carried the few belongings 
we were able to pack on his back. 

Mother made up small packages of seeds in linen 
cloth, and father took the tools that would be needed 
in the new home, as well as a bushel of meal and a side 
of bacon. My best linsey-woolsey dress, a change of 
clothes for mother, together with spare powder and 
bullets, made up as much of a load as the poor old 
horse could be expected to carry over the mountains. 



MAKING READY FOR THE JOURNEY 



15 



Now, doesn't that seem like a sorry outfit for four 
people going on a long journey, to say nothing of mak- 
ing a new home? "^ 

Of course we would have plenty to eat, for Mr. Boone 
was very skillful with his long rifle, which carried forty 




bullets to the pound, even though the other men, in- 
cluding my father, might not be good marksmen. 

Even Billy has sometimes brought home a deer and 
so many turkeys that I could hardly count them, al- 
though hunting on the Yadkin is not considered good. 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



i6 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



Billy declared that he could shoot enough to feed us 
all, and he is only thirteen years old, though large for 
his age, being able to hold his own at wrestling with 
any other of his weight in the settlements. 



WHAT WE WORE 



Billy had a splendid hunt- 
ing shirt of brown linen, 
which I had made for him; 
the bosom of it was double 
and sewed together to form 
a pocket where he could 
carry tow for wiping the bar- 
rel of his gun, or even food. 
It was belted with a strip of 
soft-tanned deer hide, tied 
behind, with the ends hang- 
ing down. I had intended 
to ornament the ends with 
colored porcupine quills, like 
the belt worn by Mr. Boone ; 
but Billy didn't kill a porcu- 
pine until two days before 
we started, and then it was too late. In the belt were 
a tomahawk and a scalping knife in a deerskin sheath, 
all exactly like father's. He had a coonskin cap, with 




DRIVING CATTLE AND SHEEP 



17 



the tail hanging down behind, and the stoutest mocca- 
sins mother could make. ' 

I had made his leggings from a doeskin which 
father had tanned, and had fringed them on the out- 
side of each leg in a beautiful way ; but he had been in 
the creek with them on so many times that no one 
would ever have been able to say what the color was. 

I wore shoepacks, and so did mother, because Mr. 
Boone was in such a hurry to get away that we hadn't 
time to make moccasins. We both had brand-new 
sunbonnets, and our linsey-woolseys were also much 
the same as new, not having been in use as dress-up 
clothes for more than a year. 




DRIVING CATTLE AND SHEEP 

Father decided to take with him two cows and five 
sheep ; the other men had more or less live stock, all 



i8 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



of which were to be driven in one herd, with us children 
to look after them. It was pretty hard work to keep 
the animals together after we came upon the mountains, 
where the road was just a narrow trail, or trace, as Mr. 
Boone calls it. 

There were nine cows and twenty sheep, and only 
twelve children to drive them. From morning till 

night we ran into 
the thickets, first on 
this side and then on 
that, to keep them 
on the trail, climb- 
ing, climbing all the 
time, until it seemed 
to me now and then 
as if I could not 
take another step 
even though the 
whole herd were lost. 
Sometimes mother 
got down from the 
horse, and I took her 
place in the saddle. 
But Billy had no 
such chance to rest his legs nor would he have taken 
advantage of it no matter how weary, because he wished 
to show that he was already a hunter and trapper. 




CAMPING AT NIGHTFALL 19 

Jemima Boone declared that she wouldn't ride a 
horse while her mother walked, and during the first 
four days of the journey she followed the cattle until 
her dress was actually in rags, and she had lost her only 
sunbonnet into a stream that whirled it away before 
she had time to cry out. 

I noticed that after the sunbonnet had gone she 
seemed to lose courage, although the trail was no more 
difficult than might have been expected, but from that 
time, I think, she rode as often as I did. 

CAMPING AT NIGHTFALL 

The men went on ahead, leaving the older boys to 
look after the women and children. Often and often 
we did not see them from the beginning of the journey 
in the morning until we made camp at night. A 
lean-to of branches and vines with a fire in front of 
it was our only shelter from the dew until we came 
through the Gap into Kentucky. Then, as there was 
danger from the Indians, we lay down on the ground. 

There were days when we had really pleasant camp- 
ing places, and the halt was made early in the after- 
noon that we might rest sufficiently. Then I was glad 
that we were going into that land which Mr. Boone 
said was so beautiful. At such times we had feasts of 
deer meat or turkeys roasted over a bed of glowing 



20 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



coals, with as much journey cake^ as we could eat 
sopped in meat drippings, which we had caught in 
dishes of bark. 

But the time came when we no longer dared to build 
a fire. We went hungry to bed on the ground with 




not even a lean-to for shelter, because it would have 
been^ dangerous to build a fire that might betray our 
whereabouts to the Indians. 

It was one weary day after another. But there was 
less labor for us children because our fathers did not 
dare let us stray very far into the forest in search of 
the cattle or sheep, lest the Indians should find us. 

1 This was probably the original form of the word johnnycake. 



THE LONG HALT 



21 



I could not, if I would, set down the whole story of 
our climbing the hills until we came to Powell's Valley. 
There we had a view of the mountains which shut 
us out from the land in which we were to make new 
homes. 

THE LONG HALT 



Finally we came to a place where Mr. Boone believed 
we were no longer in danger of being attacked by the 
Indians. Here it was decided to 
make a long halt in order that we 
children and our mothers might 
get sufficient rest to put us in 
condition for the more diffi- 
cult part of the journey. I 
said to myself that if the 
trace was to be any more 
wearing, it was likely that 
some of us would fall by 
the wayside. 
.c/'^^ In order that we 

might be better 
sheltered from the 
weather, father 
spread on stakes all our blankets, covering them with 
branches, lest a sudden wind should blow our poor hut 
away. While mother made ready the morning meal, 




22 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

Billy and I lay near the camp fire and kept our eyes 
on the cattle that were feeding on the grass. We both 
felt the delight of being able thus to idle away the time. 

JIMMY BOONE GOES TO THE CLINCH 

Before breakfast was cooked, and I well remember 
that the last of our store of meal was used for the 
journey cake that morning, Jemima Boone came to tell 
us that her oldest brother, Jimmy, and two of the men 
were to ride over to the Clinch River, in the hope of 
being able to buy some meal from the settlers. 

"Father says that Jimmy must now do the work of 
a man, and surely you never saw a prouder boy than 
he was when he rode off at the head of the little party.'' 

''Will they be away long?" Billy asked, and Jemima 
replied with a laugh : — 

''No ; so we need not feel lonely. Father has given 
orders that they come back by sunset, whether they 
buy any meal or not." 

"Is he afraid the Indians may be near?" Billy 
asked, and Jemima laughed as if he had said something 
comical. 

"While we are here in the valley there is no fear 
that they will bother us. To tell the truth, Hannah, 
I am beginning to believe so much has been said about 
the danger in order that we might keep sharper watch 



JIMMY BOONE GOES TO THE CLINCH 23 



over the cattle and sheep. Surely if there were any 
Indians this side of the Cumberland Mountains, we 
should have seen them days and days ago." 

Then Jemima left us to tell 
the other children where Jimmy 
had gone, for she enjoyed 
spreading news. 

When night came once 
more, Jimmy Boone ^.^ 
and those who had ^^^^i;;;;^;;^' 
ridden with him had 
not returned, and I asked Mrs. 
Boone if she was afraid some 
trouble might have come, or 
whether he had not lost the 
trace ? 

She laughed at such a fool- 
ish question, declaring that 
Jimmy was nearly as well able to take care of himself 
as was his father, and that she would be ashamed 
of him if at his age he could not ride from Powell's 
Valley to the Clinch River without going astray. 

But the poor boy had mistaken the trail, as we 
were soon to learn. Next morning a white man and 
a negro rode into camp at full speed, as if the Indians 
were close at their heels, and then we heard this most 
cruel story: — 




24 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



MURDER OF JIMMY BOONE AND HIS COMPANIONS 

James and the two men of our company had found 
their way to the Chnch River without trouble, and the 
settlers at that place were so well supplied with meal 
as to be willing to let us have more than Jimmy and 
his companions could carry. Six of the people there- 
fore proposed to visit our camp, bringing the meal on 
their horses. 

When they were within three miles of our camp, they 
wandered from the trace into the darkness. Believing 







it would be better to make camp and wait until morning, 
when there would be no difficulty in finding their way, 
they Came to a halt. They felt secure against a visit 
from the Indians, and so built a camp fire and made 



A TIME OF MOURNING 25 

themselves as comfortable as possible, even lying down 
to sleep without a guard. 

A band of Shawnee Indians, who had been on a raid 
to the Cherokee villages on the Little Tennessee River, 
came upon the slumbering men and killed and scalped 
all save the two who had ridden into our camp. 

Our fathers believed that the Shawnees were probably 
Hngering near at hand, awaiting a favorable chance to 
fall upon our party, and made such preparations to 
protect us as were in their power. The women were 
armed with pistols or rifles, and boys even younger 
than Billy were called upon to act the part of men. 

And during all that time Mr. Boone and his wife 
were grieving over the death of their oldest son ! 

A TIME OF MOURNING 

As mother says, those who have been killed are past 
all care save that of God, and the living must put away 
their grief to guard each other. It was my first lesson 
of the many needed, to make me understand how hard 
are the lives of the men and women who prepare the 
way in the wilderness. 

Jemima and I sat by the embers of the neglected 
fire, clasped in each other's arms and weeping bitterly. 
Mother, thinking, perhaps, to stop us, said that it was 
our lot to bear these trials without repining, in the 



26 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

belief that a great people coming later in our footsteps 
would remember with gratitude our names and deeds 
when this vast, awful wilderness should be filled with 
happy, peaceful homes. 

Not until the next day did Mr. Boone, my father, 
and the two from the Clinch River go out to bury the 
dead, and while they were away those of us who were 
not standing guard sat silently in a group. 

There was never a tear on Mr. Boone's face when he 
came back. He spoke to no one, not even when he 
laid his hand on his wife's shoulder and kissed in turn 
each of his children ; but he looked from time to time 
at the priming of his rifle, as if believing an opportunity 
might speedily come when he would be able to use the 
weapon against those who had caused the death of 
his boy. 

THE FAINT-HEARTED RETURN 

During this evening the men began to talk of going 
back to the Yadkin. All save my father and Mr. 
Boone appeared to think it useless to travel farther 
toward Kentucky, for it seemed certain that the Indians 
were on the warpath and that it would be inviting 
death to continue the journey. 

While they talked the matter over, some of the people 
being especially fearful lest the Indians make another 



THE FAINT-HEARTED RETURN 



27 



attack at once, a company from the valley of Virginia 
arrived on their way across the Gap, and halted in 
alarm on learning of the murders. It seemed as if the 
stronger we grew in numbers, the greater became the 




ftwk litUrvh 



terror of all, and the more reason why every attempt 
to get into Kentucky should be abandoned. 

Mr. Boone declared flatly that he would take his 
family to the Clinch River and remain there until he 
could know what the savages were about, rather than 
go back to the Yadkin, and my father pledged himself 
to do the same, despite all that the strangers and our 
old neighbors could say against it. 

Two days passed before the question was finally 



2^ 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



settled, and then all the men, with their famihes, save 
only Mr. Boone and my father, set off on the back- 
ward trail, leaving us alone. It made me homesick 
to see them marching away, while we remained in the 
very midst of the savage Indians ; but not for worlds 
would I have admitted that I felt sad because of the 
parting. 










A ISTEW HOME 



Within an hour after they left us we started for the 
river, traveling as we had while coming over the moun- 



MAKING MOCCASINS 



29 



tains, with us children looking after the cattle, while the 
two men, with Israel Boone and Billy, scouted slowly 
ahead on the lookout for danger. Before the sun set 
again we had come to an abandoned cabin on the bank 
of the Clinch ; none of us expected to stay there many 
days, and yet it was nearly two years before we left. 
Father straightway took the boys on a hunt, and 
while he was away, Mr. Boone made a large trough 
from the trunk of a honey-locust 
tree, sinking it in the earth, so 
that Mrs. Boone might tan some 
of the deer hides which our 
hunters were certain to 
bring back, for her chil- 
dren were badly off for 
both moccasins and 
'A shoepacks. 

MAKING MOCCASINS 

Mother makes 
moccasins for us 
children by having 
us put our bare 
feet on a piece of 
wet, smoke- tanned deer hide. Then she draws the skin 
up around each foot, tying it in place, and we sit before 




30 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

the fire until it dries. By this means she gets the form 
of the bottom and sides of the moccasin, and it only 
remains to gather this to a top piece with linen thread 
or deer sinews, after it has dried and been rubbed soft 
on the edges. Then the heel seam is to be sewed up 
stoutly, without gathers, and as high as the ankle 
joint. The lower part must have left on it two flaps 
four or five inches long by which the boys may bind 
their moccasins to the bottom of the leggings. 

Shoepacks are made in much the same way, except 
that they are formed of leather and have no flaps. A 
sole of elk hide is put on if one can get it, and we girls 
are proud indeed when our shoepacks are thus stiffened 
on the bottom. 

TANNING LEATHER 

Tanning leather, whether you do it in the white man's 
way or work it down by rubbing and smoking after 
the Indian fashion, is wearisome labor, yet Mrs. Boone 
is very clever at the business and keeps our family well 
supplied when the hunting is good. 

For a vat she uses such a trough as I have just spoken 
of, and we children are set at gathering and drying 
bark, after which we pound or scrape it into fine frag- 
ments such as can be soaked readily. She uses hard- 
wood ashes instead of lime for taking off the hair, and 
bear's grease or fat becai^se of the lack of fish oil. One 



TANNING LEATHER 



31 



of the men curries it with any kind of knife that is at 
hand, and we children make a blacking of -soot and hog's 
lard, rubbing it in well with blocks of wood. 

When we were on the Yadkin, I saw shoes which had 
been put together by a man whose trade it was to make 




them. The leather was beautifully black and glossy, 
but mother doubted if it would wear as well as that 
which we make with so much hard labor. 

Father and the boys came back with all the game 
they could stagger under, and went off again next day 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



32 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

with two of the horses to bring in the meat that had 
been left hanging in the forest. Two bears, seven 
deer, and six big turkeys, to say nothing of many squir- 
rels, made up such a store of food that it did not seem 
possible we could eat it all during the short time we 
might stay there. 

Every one of us except Johnny Boone, the baby, set 
about curing the meat, expecting to carry it with us into 
Kentucky. Yet the days went by, sometimes slowly, 
and sometimes, when we felt reasonably safe against the 
Indians, rapidly, until winter had come and gone, our 
fathers all the while thinking that it would be dan- 
gerous to lead us across the mountains. 

It must not be supposed that we had nothing to do. 
The men spent the greater part of their time in ranging 
through the woods in order to hunt or to learn what 
the savages were about. We children were forced to 
scrape away the snow here and there that the animals 
might feed upon the grass of the last summer, and our 
mothers were kept busy from sunrise to sunset at one 
household duty or another. 

GOVERNOR DUNMORE SENDS FOR MR. BOONE 

Thus the days passed until warm weather came once 
more. We were beginning to make preparations for 
leaving the old cabin, when a messenger came from 



GOVERNOR DUNMORE SENDS FOR MR. BOONE 33 



Watauga in search of Jemima's father. He told us that 
Governor Dunmore had sent him to ask Mr. Boone 
and my father to go into Kentucky and warn the white 
people, who were in the wilderness surveying the land, 

against remaining any longer. 

It was the governor's plan to 

wage war upon the Indians 

who had their hunting grounds 

where our people wanted 

to settle, and he wished 

to make certain that all 

W^Mk C^^^^" ^^S*C^ " ^^^ white men should 

know what was about 
to happen. 

Had we dreamed that 
father might be away from 
us long, both mother and I 
would have said all we could 
to prevent him from leaving us ; but, 
not realizing how difficult and danger- 
ous the task was to be, and rejoic- 
ing because he had a chance to earn some money, 
we held our peace, only insisting that a generous 
supply of meat should be brought in before he 
started. 

The messenger from Watauga joined our fathers in the 
hunt, and within three days there was piled up in front 




34 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

of the cabin, or hanging from the trees, as much game 
as could be cured before it would spoil. 

Israel Boone and Billy were cautioned to keep a 
sharp watch for Indian signs, and not to wander very 
far into the forest when they went hunting. The mes- 
senger left us to return to Watauga, and then, promis- 
ing to come back as soon as the surveyors had been 
warned, our fathers marched away, carrying with them 
for food only one large journey cake and four or five 
slices of cooked deer meat. 

Mother insisted that they should have half of our 
store of salt, but both men declared they would not 
take anything so precious, for in Powell's Valley a 
bushel of salt was worth a good cow and a calf, while 
in the settlements on the Yadkin it sold for fifty cents 
a quart. 

OUR HOME ON THE CLINCH 

During the first two or three days we hardly realized 
the absence of our fathers, so busy were we all, and so 
accustomed to their being away from home scouting 
or hunting. We were not really alone, for only twelve 
miles away was a settlement of three cabins; therefore 
we had no reason to feel lonely, especially while there 
were so many of us under one roof. 

In the Boone family were Israel, Susannah, Jemima, 
Lavinia, Rebecca, Daniel, and little Johnny, while in 



OUR HOME ON THE CLINCH 35 

ours there were only Billy and I. Nine children and 
two mothers filled the cabin so full that we were really 
crowded, for the abandoned house we had found was 
by no means large. 

There were two rooms on the ground and two above 
in the loft, with a window at the back of the building, 
which could not well be kept open in stormy weather, 
for we had neither oiled paper nor oil-soaked fawn skin 
to cover it. At the opposite end was a door made of a 
double thickness of stout puncheon planks, with bars 
so large that there was Httle danger the Indians could 
break it down, no matter how many might make an 
attack. 

In addition to the knives carried by Israel and Billy, 
Mrs. Boone had two and mother one, but we had only 
two kettles, — one for each family, — and when hot 
water was needed, there remained only the single dish 
for cooking food. 

Billy found two of the nicest flat stones I ever saw, 
on which to bake journey cakes, and Jemima and I 
whittled out enough laurelwood spoons to supply each 
of us with one, and to leave a few to replace those that 
were likely to split when the food or water was too 
hot. 

The man who built the cabin of which we had taken 
possession had made a long pen seven feet wide, run- 
ning the entire length of the house, by placing cleft 



36 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



logs in a row ; the space between them and the side of 
the building served as a bed for all in the house. This 
we filled with fresh boughs, and we considered ourselves 
very fortunate in having a grove of pine trees within 




half a mile of the cabin. Mother says that the person 
who can make his bed of pine boughs has no right to 
complain. 

HOUSEHOLD DUTIES 

It is not to be supposed that we were idle after cur- 
ing the deer meat and making ready the skins for tan- 
ning. We had three cows, twelve sheep, two horses, 
and three dogs, all of which it was necessary to care for 
and prevent from straying. 

The best that could be done was to pasture the live 



HOUSEHOLD DUTIES 37 

stock in the woods near by, where they found plenty of 
green food. Each cow wore a bell ; therefore, as long 
as the herd kept together there was little difficulty in 
finding them at night, but we had a task when any of 
them strayed. 

Soon after our fathers went away Israel and Billy 
made a rail fence inclosing a small bit of land in the 
rear of the cabin, where the animals could be kept to- 
gether during the night; it was the duty of Jemima 
Boone and me to drive the herd home before sunset. 
Of course the other children helped us when they were 
really needed, for there were times when we were 
forced to go two miles or more from the house to 
find the beasts, and then my heart seemed to be in 
my mouth, because of the fear that the Indians might 
attack us. 

The first duty of Israel and Billy in the morning, be- 
fore any one ventured out, was to look carefully through 
the crevices between the logs in the loft, to make sure 
that no Indians had crept up during the night and were 
waiting for us to open the door so they could rush in 
and kill us all. 

When, after ranging in the woods near by until they 
were certain there were no Indians in the neighborhood, 
Israel and Billy told us girls that we might venture out, 
we often made merry, gathering hackberries, pawpaws, 
plums, haws, and honey-locust pods, on aU of which we 



38 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



feasted until it was impossible to eat more; then we 
filled dishes made of leaves or bark, to carry home. 

Sometimes we gathered winter grapes, piling them 
up outside the cabin on the south side, where they 
would ripen in the sun and then be exposed to 
the first frost, for until they have been chilled 
pK by the weather they are much 

- ^ ^^-'--^ too sour to be eaten. 

Now and then we gath- 
ered a store of seeds 
from the coffee bean 
tree, of which our 
mothers would make 
a brew that we 
fancied tasted like 
real coffee. We 
found crab apples 
in abundance, and marked the location of the walnut 
and hickory trees that we might get the nuts when 
the frost had tumbled them to the ground. 

Because we expected each day, after two weeks had 
gone by, that our fathers would come back to take us 
into Kentucky, we made no provision for the winter, 
either for ourselves or for the stock. We bitterly re- 
gretted such neglect when the snows came and we were 
shut up in that log house. 

One day before the frosts, when the boys declared 




ATTACKED BY A WILDCAT 



39 



there were no Indians around, we ventured farther and 
farther into the woods until we had wandered two or 
three miles without thinking of harm. 



ATTACKED BY A WILDCAT 



My brother made us a swing by tying up the ends of 
wild grapevines, after which he pushed us high into the 



^t:^feu 




40 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

air, all the party shouting and laughing as merrily as if 
we had been safe at home on the banks of the Yadkin. 

Israel had wandered off by himself, as he often did, 
but we gave no heed to his absence until I fancied I 
heard, above our noise, the cries of a person in distress, 
mingled with the most horrible yells and screams. 

It was fully a minute before I could quiet the younger 
children so that we might hsten, and then, when it was 
possible to hear distinctly, Billy cried as he ran at full 
speed in the direction of the noise : — • 

''Israel is in trouble ! Get back to the cabin, girls, 
for the Indians may be about !" 

I knew that the Indians never made such a noise when 
they were attacking white people, and, leaving Jemima 
to look after the younger ones, I followed Billy. 

Within ten minutes we were looking at a terrible 
sight. It seems that Israel had stopped to rest and was, 
sitting on a log, when suddenly an enormous wildcat, 
snarling as if in a rage, stepped out from among the 
leaves in front of him, her short tail swinging from side 
to side viciously, and her crop ears lying back close 
to her neck. 

Israel's first thought was to shoot, but immediately 
he realized that the report of his rifle would alarm those 
in the cabin, as well as us children, so he stooped 
to pick up a broken branch, hoping to frighten her 
with it. 



FIGHTING WITH THE WILDCAT 



41 



It was while he was leaning forward that the animal 
sprang at him. He saw the moving shadow in time to 
jump up, but it was too late to guard himself wholly. 




The cat, instead of seizing hinf by the neck, which was 
most likely her aim, fastened her teeth into his side, 
and began digging the flesh of his left leg with her hind 
claws. 

FIGHTING WITH THE WILDCAT 

He could not reach his rifle, which had been left 
leaning against the log, nor would it have been possible 
to use such a weapon even if it had been in his hands. 
He could only clutch her by the throat ; unable to get 
a firm hold, he threw himself against a tree, with the 
cat between him and the trunk, hoping to crush her, 
and crying at the same time for us to come to his aid. 



42 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



When he began to shout, the cat screamed. This was 
the noise that had attracted my attention. 

As Billy and I came up we could not understand 
what the matter was. It seemed to me an age before 




we fully made out what was going on, and even then 
it was not a simple matter to end the battle. Israel 
did not dare move back far enough for Billy to strike 
a blow at the cat, and he could not release his hold of 
her throat to unsheath his knife, therefore he was 
forced to remain in the same position until Billy cried: — 
"Can't you leap back when I strike?" 



MR. BOONE AND FATHER RETURN 43 

"No; but never mind what you do to me. Thrust 
at her ! I'd rather be killed by a knife than torn to 
death by this animal !" 

Again and again did Billy thrust, his face showing 
deathly white because of the fear that he might kill 
Israel, and each time he drew back I could see that the 
knife was crimsoned with blood, yet the cat continued 
to scream, bite, and tear. 

It seemed to me that Billy must have struck at least 
twenty blows before the animal opened her jaws and 
fell backward as Israel staggered against a tree, the 
blood running in streams from his side and leg. 

I really believed the poor boy would die before we 
could get him home, for we could not carry him in our 
arms without causing him pain, so we made a drag of 
branches, on which he was hauled as on a sled. 

Mrs. Boone and mother washed and bound up his 
wounds quite as well as father could have done ; but 
Israel was not able to move about for many a long day. 

MR. BOONE AND FATHER RETURN 

Finally they came, father and Mr. Boone. They 
had traveled many hundred miles, going as far as the 
Falls of the Ohio and warning all the white men on that 
land, which the Indians called the ''dark and bloody 
ground," of what was likely to happen. 



44 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



"Now we'll ^ ake ready to go over into Kentucky, 
or to our old home," Jemima whispered to me as we 

listened to the 
news our men had 
brought, and I 
agreed. But before 
the first evening 
had come to an end 
we knew that there 
was no hope of 
our leaving the 
Clinch River yet. 
Lord Dunmore was 
about to send out 
an army in order 
to clear Kentucky 
of the Indians, and 
Mr. Boone and my 
father had come 
back only to per- 
suade the settlers 
in Powell's Valley 
and on the Clinch 
to enlist as soldiers. 
Mother was almost disheartened because father was 
to leave us again, and we children were silenced by the 
thought of more battles to be fought. 




THE WILDERNESS ROAD 45 

I need not write more regarding our li \d on the Clinch, 
save to say that our fathers joined Governor Dunmore's 
army and that we did not see them again until the war 
was ended, although the Indians were not driven out of 
Kentucky, as we have good reason to know. 

The two men were no sooner with us again than 
there came to our cabin a Mr. Henderson, who had 
bought from the Cherokee Indians a large section of 
land in Kentucky and was eager to make settlements 
there. He wanted to hire Jemima's father to make a 
trace, which should, after crossing the Gap and fol- 
lowing the Warriors' Path fifty miles or more, strike 
off to the north, running from Powell's Valley into the 
new country no less than three hundred miles. 

THE WILDERNESS ROAD 

So Mr. Boone and father left us alone again. 

Not only did Mr. Boone blaze what is called the 
Wilderness Road, but he, with father and many other 
men to help him, built a fort on the bank of Otter Creek, 
in Kentucky, close by the river of the same name, and 
it was to this place, which was already spoken of as 
Boonesborough, that we were to go without delay. 

It must not be supposed that the making of the 
Wilderness Road and the building of the fort were done 
without trouble from the Indians. 



46 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



. When the road makers were within fifteen miles of 
the place where the fort was afterwards built, and 
during the night when all were sleeping soundly in 
the belief that the Indians would hold to certain 




promises lately made, that they would cease from 
making attacks on the settlers, the Shawnees sur- 
rounded our men. 

At daybreak the war whoop rang out, mingled with 
the reports of rifles as the savages fired at the sleeping 
men. Mr. Boone and his companions sprang to their 
feet in alarm. But for the fact that these road makers 
were old hunters who had fought again and again with 



BUILDING THE FORTS 47 

the Indians, all might have been murdered; but, be- 
cause of past experience, they were no sooner awake 
than every man was ready for battle. 

It must have been that God prevented the savages 
from taking good aim, for only one white man was 
killed and two were wounded, — one so badly that he 
died on the third day after. 

When the Indians saw our people take shelter behind 
the trees and open fire, they beat a quick retreat, for 
they will not stand up in open fight against white 
men. Mr. Boone's company remained crouching in 
hiding ready to open fire on the first red face or tuft 
of feathers that could be seen, many of them mean- 
while urging that all attempts to build a fort be aban- 
doned, and that they return beyond the Cumberland 
Mountains, for there was good reason to believe that 
the Indians had taken to the warpath again. 

BUILDING THE FORTS 

Father says that Mr. Boone would not listen to these 
arguments. He insisted that a fort should be built 
then and there, after which the question of turning 
back could be discussed. 

By nightfall a stockade seven feet high, with but 
one narrow opening, had been put up, and then the 
company waited, meanwhile sending out two of their 

HANNAH OF KENTUCKY A 



48 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



number as scouts, to learn whether the Indians intended 
to make more trouble. 

Father also said that not less than a hundred men had 
gone into Kentucky with, or ahead of, the road makers, 




and were building 
forts at different 
places ; therefore 
when Mr. Boone be- 
lieved the savages 
were not planning 
to make another 

attack very soon, he sent out two of the company 

to warn these people, hoping they would join him in 

a short time. 

After this had been done a number of the road makers 

followed Mr. Boone to Otter Creek, close by the Ken- 



SETTING OUT FOR BOONESBOROUGH 49 

tucky River, and there this fort, in which mother and 
I are to-day, was built. 

Not until the settlement of Boonesborough was well 
begun, and all the men from neighboring forts had met 
to make laws for the new^ colony, did Mr. Boone and 
father come back to us. 

And now I must say ''Colonel," instead of ''Mis- 
ter," when speaking of Jemima's father ; for after the 
laws had been made and officers for the colony chosen, 
he was put in command of the settlers in Boonesborough 
when they should be gathered together in defense of 
the place. 

SETTING OUT FOR BOONESBOROUGH 

Do you suppose we were long in making ready for 
the journey after father and Colonel Boone told us they 
had come to take both families into Kentucky? We 
children worked as we never had worked before in 
order that no time might be lost. It was about the 
first of September, 1775, when we set out, driving the 
cattle and sheep before us as we had done when 
leaving the Yadkin. 

The second day's march ended at Powell's Valley, 
where we found Hugh Mc Garry, Richard Hogan, and 
Thomas Denton, with their wives and children, await- 
ing our coming that they might go with us over into 
what we believed to be the Land of Promise. There 



50 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

were thirty men, five women, and many children in the 
company when, after one day's rest, we pushed onward 
toward Cumberland Gap. 

Now we had a drove of cattle indeed, and it was well 
for us that we were suppHed with moccasins and shoe- 
packs, for running to and fro in search of the sheep, 
and striving to keep the cattle in an orderly hne, was 
hard upon the feet. 

After crossing Buffalo Creek, we arrived at Flat 
Lick, where we made a halt of two days that the men 
might get a larger store of meat before coming to a 
country where it was believed the savages would be 
troublesome. 

GATHERING SALT 

I had never before seen a salt lick, and was much 
surprised because it was not so greatly different from 
other places. The earth had been trodden smooth and 
hard by the countless number of animals that had come 
to lick up the salt from the ground. There were many, 
many small springs of salt water which, wasted by the 
sun, had left a white powder all around, nothing more 
nor less than salt, for which we so often hungered, or 
paid a large price. In order to get one bushel of the 
powder it was necessary to boil down eight hundred 
gallons of the water. 

From every point through the cane and blue-grass 



GATHERING SALT 



SI 



plains were paths worn by the buffaloes, elks, deer, or 
bears, as they came for the salt, and here the hunters 
expected to get as much meat as would be needed, until 
we arrived at the fort. 

Jemima and I saw wild turkeys so fat that, when 
they dropped from a tree on being killed, their skins 




would burst. We ate their flesh until I hoped I might 
never see such a bird again, although many a time since 
we have been shut up here at Boonesborough, I have 
wished that we could have on the spit in our cabin just 
one of those plump turkeys as a change from journey 
cake and dried deer meat. 

From Flat Lick on toward Boonesborough we crossed 
a dozen or more creeks, and were forced to run many a 
mile while keeping the cattle together ; but we did not 



52 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

mind so long as our fathers did not find Indian signs 
such as would bring us to a halt. 

When we came to the headwaters of the Dix River, 
those who had joined us at Powell's Valley struck off on 
a trace leading to a fort that had been built quite a dis- 
tance from Boonesborough, by Mr. James Harrod. We 
were saddened at parting company with these people, 
but we were looking forward to our new home, which was 
pictured in our minds as the most beautiful spot on earth. 

During the days which followed, no fresh signs of the 
savages appeared, and we pressed steadily on until 
coming to Blue Lick, where we halted to rest ourselves 
as well as the cattle. Here Colonel Boone and his 
wife, with Jemima and Susannah, started on ahead; 
so it happened that Mrs. Boone and her daughters 
were the first women to enter a settlement in Ken- 
tucky. The rest of the Boone family stayed with 
Billy and me. 

BOONESBOROUGH 

At length we arrived within sight of Boonesborough, 
and all rejoiced that here was a fort in which we would 
be safe from the Indians. 

There are ten strong log cabins built in the form of a 
rectangle, inclosing a space of about one third of an 
acre. Continuous with the backs of the huts, and join- 
ing one to the other, is a stout fence of logs set firmly 



BOONESBOROUGH 



53 



into the ground ; this pahsade, together wtth the backs 
of the houses, makes what Billy calls the line of defense. 
Each cabin is twenty feet long, and from twelve to 
fifteen feet wide, while those that stand at each corner 
have an additional story which extends out over the 




lower part, so that those who are inside may see any 
Indians that creep up under cover of the fence to shoot 
through the crevices. 

On two sides of this fort, opposite each other, are 
heavy gates made of puncheon planks. These are 
swung on wooden hinges, with enormous bars inside, 
so that when they are closed and the stout timbers 
dropped into place, all the savages in Kentucky could 
not break them down. 



54 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

Around the fort the trees are cleared away for a long 
distance, so that the Indians cannot sneak up from 
behind one tree to another, and thus come close to the 
palisade before being seen. 

This fort, already called Boonesborough, stands by 
the side of the creek, within view of the Kentucky 
River, and when I first saw it, after the long journey 
from Powell's Valley, I believed no place could be more 
beautiful ; but I have since come to wonder if the 
Yadkin is not as fine as this creek, and if the country 
about my old home is not more pleasant. 

What seemed strange to me was, that although we 
could see men in the inclosure, from the slight rise of 
land where we halted to view our future home, no one 
came forth to meet us, nor were the big gates thrown 
open to give us entrance, even though our company 
was less than half a mile away. It appeared almost as 
if the people in the fort were not pleased at our coming ; 
yet we knew that Mr. Boone, his wife, and two daugh- 
ters were inside. 

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST AN ATTACK 

While mother and I stood silent, father went forward 
where he could be seen plainly by those in the fort and 
waved his cap to attract attention. 

Instantly the big gate fronting the creek was opened 



PRECAUTIONS AGAINST AN ATTACK 



55 



wide enough for a company of twelve men to come out, 
after which it was closed again, and I heard some one 
say that the Indians must lately have been seen near 
Boonesborough, because those who defended the stock- 
ade seemed to fear lest an attack be made at the mo- 




^"^ 



ment of our arrival ; but father thought there was 
nothing strange in such precautions. 

When the men from the fort came up, they said that 
savages had been seen lurking about that very morning, 
and that it was necessary to have a large force ready 
to stand on the defensive when the gate was opened 
again. While we advanced I could see men, in the 



56 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

watch-houses and on the top of the stockade, watching 
keenly the surrounding forest. Not until the animals 
had been herded near the gate, was it opened, and then 
every creature, as well as the women and children, was 
urged through on the run, while the men stood, rifles 
in hand, ready to open fire in case the Indians should 
appear. 

Only when we were inside, with the gate closed and 
barred once more, did I draw a long breath, and at the 
same time I found myself in Jemima Boone's arms. 
She had been watching our march across the cleared 
ground, trembling with anxiety lest some misfortune 
befall us. 

OUR HOME IN THE FORT 

It was a positive relief to me, and I know it was also 
to mother, when we found that we were to have one of 
the cabins all to ourselves. I had thought we might 
have to share a house with some other family. 

Colonel Boone's cabin was the same as ours, and 
what pleased me greatly, was the fact that it stood 
next door, with but the paHsade of logs between; there- 
fore Jemima and I would be together almost as much as 
when we lived on the Clinch. 

No sooner were we in the fort than father and Billy 
set about making a fireplace and chimney, at the same 
time promising to lay a puncheon floor, for this- new 



MAKING READY FOR COOKING 57 

home of ours had nothing inside it save the earth beaten 
down hard. There were two square holes as windows, 
which I hoped some day to see covered with oiled paper 
or thin hide. 

I could not help shuddering when I saw the many 
tiny holes in the side of the building facing the forest, 
for I realized that they had been made to shoot through. 
Already I could see in my mind father, mother, and 
Billy standing, rifle in hand, and peering through those 
loopholes to see a savage whom they could kill. 

This has since been a reality many times, while I 
went from one to the other, carrying powder or bullets 
and cleaning the rifles when they became heated from 
rapid firing, for my father owned two spare guns in 
addition to those used by Billy and mother. 

MAKING READY FOR COOKING 

Our first need was a fireplace and a chimney, so that 
mother might do some baking, the family being heartily 
sick of meat all the time, with no bread whatever. 

Father and Billy soon had the chimney made of 
slender sticks, well protected by a coating of clay both 
inside and out, and I must say the work could not 
have been done better had they had stones and mortar. 

The fireplace cost much more labor, for we could 
not easily find rocks sufficiently large, and Colonel 



58 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



Boone's strict command was that no one should be 
allowed to go farther than fifty paces from the gate of 
the fort. 

Mrs. Boone already had her cabin fitted for con- 
venient cooking, therefore her children helped Billy 




and me in our search for rocks, while father brought a 
plentiful supply of mud. We did not succeed in baking 
a journey cake in our own house that night, but before 
another day came to a close we had at one end of the 



MAKING READY FOR COOKING 



59 



house as good a fireplace as could be found in any of 
the houses in Boonesborough. 




On that first night Mrs. Boone insisted that we do 
our cooking in her cabin, and I shall never forget how 
sweet was the journey cake mother made. A good cook 
she was, and is ; but one can hardly expect her to show 
very much skill when she has only a fire built in front 
of a log in the forest, with such a stone as can be 
found most easily on which to spread the dough. 

However, when she has a regular fireplace, with a 
flat rock, that seems to have been made especially for 
a pan, and with the smoke and cinders flying up the 
chimney instead of directly upon the cake, she can do, 



6o HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

as on that first night, nicer cooking than any other 
woman that ever Hved. 

We had no beds save the bare earth; but mother 
promised that we should soon be able to sleep in com- 
fort, for turkeys and pigeons were so abundant that 
it would not take father many days, providing the 
Indians did not molest him, to bring home plenty of 
feathers. 

When we lay down to sleep that night, I heard 
mother thanking God that we were finally in the land 
of Kentucky, and praying that Billy and I might grow 
up to be man and woman such as would honor Him 
and be of service to this colony we were helping to 
settle. 

It surprised Jemima and me very much to learn how 
many people had already come into Kentucky. On 
the morning after our family arrived, I heard one of 
the men say that there is a settlement called Har- 
rodstown about fifty miles west of us, and six or seven 
miles from there is a fort known as Boiling Springs, 
in which two places live no less than a hundred people. 
North from here, so we heard, about forty miles, is 
Hinkson's, where are nineteen settlers, and lower down 
toward the Ohio River is still another fort named Mil- 
ler's, in which are no less than eight men. Thus it can 
be seen that we of Boonesborough are not really alone 
in the wilderness. 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE 6i 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE 

Father soon made our home as nearly as possible 
like the one we had left on the Yadkin. Because we 
had loaded our one pack horse with such farming tools 
as it was believed would be needed immediately after we 
arrived, mother and I had little or nothing with which 
to set up housekeeping. It seemed as if we were well 
supplied with conveniences when the fireplace was 
ready for use, and we had exactly such a stone for bak- 
ing journey cake as one could desire. 

On our long journey we had been able to buy meal 
now and then; sometimes, it is true, we were forced 
to go without it. But here in the fort each must grind 
his own corn, or eat it whole ; so father made his first 
purchase in Kentucky when he bought a hand mill of 
a settler who had determined to go back over the Wil- 
derness Road, so fearful was he lest the Indians might 
succeed in capturing the fort. 

We had never owned such a thing, for on the Yadkin 
there was a water mill, to which Billy and I carried the 
corn for grinding; therefore this machine was to us 
almost a curiosity. 

It required two men to set the mill up in one corner 
of our cabin. First, there is a large rock, called the 
bedstone, nearly the size of a small cart wheel and 



62 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



rough on the upper side ; on top is placed another of 
the same size, with a large opening into which the grain 
can be poured. This rock is called 
the runner. Around these two, en- 
circling them as a hoop does a bar- 
rel, is a broad band of wood 
with a spout in' one side to 
^ let the meal run out when the 
corn has been ground. 
Another hole, but 
shallow, in the upper 
surface of the runner, 
near the outer edge, is 
intended for a pole 
fastened in firmly, its 
V upper end running 
into a hole in a 
puncheon made fast 
to the floor above; 
thus two people may work at turning the runner and 
divide the labor. 

It is not easy to move this upper rock around on the 
bedstone because of its roughness, so when Billy and I 
work the mill, mother or father must help us start it ; 
but once in motion we can keep it going and feed in 
the corn at the same time, although it is wearisome 
labor. 




Frjtnk, J Mvr\ 'i 



THE HOMINY BLOCK 



63 



THE HOMINY BLOCK 



No sooner was the hand mill set up than father de- 
cided we would make a hominy block, so that it might 
not be necessary for us to call upon the 
neighbors fbr theirs. 

First, he took a block of wood 
about three feet high, and so large 
around that I could barely clasp 
it with both arms. In the 
top he burned a deep hole, 
and afterward scraped it 
out until it was almost 
as smooth as the inside 




of a gourd. He made 

the hole wide at the 

top and narrow at -^ 

the bottom, so that 

when the corn is 

pounded with a 

pestle, it is thrown 

up on either side in 

such a manner that 

it will fall again to the bottom and thus be cracked 

evenly. 

Some people use a hand pestle with which to bruise 

HANNAH OF KENTUCKY S 



64 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



the grain; but father put up a slender pole, rising as 
high as the flooring above, with the butt end resting 
against the lowermost log in the side of the house. This 
pole was held in position by two forked sticks standing 
perhaps eight feet from the butt, and on the upper end 
was a piece of sapling long enough to come down within 
twenty inches of the bottom of the hole. 

On the sapling he fastened, by a wooden pin, a pestle, 
which is nothing more than a piece of maple wood 

fashioned to fit the hole 
in the block. Billy and 
I have only to tie a bit 
of wild grapevine to the 
upper end of the pole, 
and, having placed the 
corn in the hole, pull the 
pestle down and 
let it fly up again, 
which, as can 
readily be under- 
is far less labor 
than raising the heavy 
block of maple by hand. 
The same man who sold us the hand mill gave mother 
his corn grater, no one in the fort being willing to buy 
it. Just then it would be of little service, but I under- 
stood that later, when we had raised a crop of corn, it 




THE SUPPLY OF WATER 65 

would be of great value, even though such a tool may 
be used only when the grain is too soft to be ground. 

This grater is nothing more than a half-round piece 
of tin with holes punched through it in such manner 
that the ragged edges of the metal are on the outside. 
It is nailed to a piece of puncheon after the fashion of 
a horse's hoof, and the ears of corn are rubbed over 
the rough edges of the holes, allowing the pulp to fall 
through on the puncheon, from which it can be scraped 
into a dish. 

THE SUPPLY OF WATER 

Inside the fort, and not far from our cabin, is a spring, 
in which, in time of need, there will be found enough 
sweet water to supply all ; that for cooking purposes 
must be brought from the creek. Again and again I 
have seen a dozen or more of the boys, each carrying 
a bucket, steal out through the gate that had been 
opened just enough to allow them to squeeze through, 
guarded by a score of men with rifles in hand, and 
bring as much water as might be needed during the 
day. 

Thus far there have been many times when we had 
cause to worry about a lack of water, and days when 
those who showed themselves incautiously upon the 
stockade were shot at from the forest near by. Each 
time, however, that our men went out in numbers they 



66 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



drove away the Indians who, as father says, have ever 
shown themselves cowardly save when it was possible 




to surprise and attack white people with overwhelming 
force. 

Before we had been at Boonesborough many days 
Billy, with the other lads and some of the men, engaged 



SPORTS INSIDE THE FORT 67 

in such sports as shooting at a mark, wrestling, or run- 
ning races. Not more than twice, however, could the 
poor boy afford to display his skill with his rifle. It 
would be sinful extravagance for him to waste much 
powder in proving that he was a better marksman than 
some other, for Mr. Henderson, who bought from the 
Cherokees all this land, sells our people powder at 
$2.66 a pound and lead at one shilling. So it may be 
seen that we children are not allowed to spend even a 
sixpence for pleasure. 

SPORTS INSIDE THE FORT 

I believe Jemima and I enjoyed the sports almost 
as much as did Billy, for it was really fine to see those 
men, on whose marksmanship our lives might depend, 
shooting so straight at a target. That which interested 
us most was when they drove an iron nail into one of 
the logs of the stockade just far enough to hold it in 
place, and then, standing forty paces away, each shot 
to hit the nail directly on the head, thus forcing it 
yet farther into the wood. 

It was exciting to see each man, as he came up in 
turn, clean carefully the barrel of his gun with the bit 
of greased tow which every hunter carries in the bosom 
of his hunting shirt, then put a bullet in the palm of his 
hand and pour out enough powder to cover it, being 



68 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



careful to use no more. Afterwards, he would brush 
with rough fingers every black particle -^are^ully into 
the barrel of the rifle, then drop upon it the buUet 
wrapped in a bit of oiled nettle-bark linen, and ram the 
whole down as if everything depended on the work 
being done deftly. 

Then the taking aim ! Each marksman raised the 
barrel of his weapon over a forked stick, having due 




care not to press hard on it with his fingers lest the re- 
coil of the powder should cause it to move ever so 
slightly out of range. Even Billy could hit the nail 



WRESTLING AND RUNNING 69 

squarely on the head twice out of every three times, 
as I had, see^ him do many a time before we came to 
Boonesborough. 

I should not praise my own brother, and yet I must 
say that he can use a rifle very nearly as well as father, 
for again and again I have seen him bark a squirrel ; 
that is, kill the little creature by hitting the bark of the 
limb on which he is crouching, thus taking away his 
life by the v'-^'nd of the bullet without actually inflicting 
a wound. 

WRESTLING AND RUNNING 

When those who were displaying their skill with the 
rifle had burned as much powder as they could afford 
to use in mere play, there were other sports. 

Some of the younger members of the company, who 
thought they were wondrously strong, dared others to 
wrestle with them, but I cannot watch such rough play 
with any pleasure, for one can well believe they are 
truly fighting, so savagely do they kick and bite in the 
hope of gaining the victory. 

There was one young man who had come on a visit 
from Har rods town, and who believed himself a great 
dandy. His hair was so long that the ends fell in little 
curls on his shoulders, and his hunting shirt was em- 
broidered with colored porcupine quills until it was so 
stiff that, as Jemima said, it would have stood alone. 



70 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



On his leggings was buckskin fringe at least three inches 
long, colored most fancifully, while his moccasins were 
quite as gorgeous as the shirt. 

He seemed to think there were none in the stockade 
who could run quite so fast, or jump so high as he, and 




in order to let this be known he stood on a stump wav- 
ing his arms sChd crowing like a cock. / 

Israel Boone said he would cut the comb of that 
rooster, and straightway dared him to run a race twice 
around the inside of the stockade. To the great pleas- 
ure of Jemima and me, the dandy from Harrodstown 
was beaten by a full yard, whereupon Israel mounted 



THE RELIGION OF THE INDIANS 71 

the stump and crowed so loudly that several women 
looked out from their houses to learn what had caused 
all the disturbance. 

It seems to me, instead of writing about the way in 
which our men and boys amused themselves, I ought 
to set down something about the people who are at this 
moment besieging us in the fort. 

THE RELIGION OF THE INDIANS 

Colonel Boone, not meaning in any way to excuse 
their terrible deeds, says that among these savages 
the young Indian who would be looked upon as a man 
by his fellows must take the scalps of either white men, 
or those Indians who are the enemies of his tribe, and 
that the stealing of horses and cattle is to them an in- 
dication of bravery and skill, even as is good marks- 
manship, or wrestling, or running to our people. 

* Father told Billy and me what sounded like an odd 
'story about the religious belief of the Shawnees and 
Cherokees. They believe that long, long ago a baby 
was found in the water, drifting around iif a canoe made 
of bulrushes. She was brought to the lodge of the chief 
and, after growing up to be a woman, did many won- 
derful things. She turned water into dry land and 
made this whole country, for it was, at first, only a 
tiny island, so small that people could not find room 



72 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



enough on it to run about. This squaw called upon 
the water turtles and the muskrats to bring mud and 
sand up to the shore. This they did until that small 
island became the land where we are now living. Be- 
cause the country was thus made by one of their people 

the Indians claim 
that the white men 
have no right to 
live here, much less 
to hunt or trap. 

They do not seem 
to be at all particu- 
lar about what they 
worship, for while 
believing in one 
Great Being, they 
burn tobacco and 
buffalo and deer 
bones as sacrifices 
to many little gods ; 
but they will not use 
the bones of bears 
or elks for such a purpose. When an eagle perches on 
a tree near their lodges just at sunset, or an owl comes 
around the village, they burn bones or tobacco in order 
that the eagle or the owl may carry good reports of 
that tribe to the other gods. If they come across an 




INDIAN BABIES 



73 



elk or a deer which is misshapen, or of a peculiar color, 
they claim that it is in some way connected with the 
Great Being and worship it after their fashion, which 
means by burning bones, dancing, shrieking, and other- 
wise making themselves hideous. 

INDIAN BABIES 



It does not seem reasonable that people who delight 
in torturing others could have any love for their own 
family, and yet father says that a 
squaw takes as good care of a baby, 
after her own fashion, as does a 
white woman. 

What amused Billy and me was 
his description of an Indian cradle. 
It is nothing more than a thin 
board with a foot 
rest at the bottom 
covered with soft 
moss, so that the 
child, when laid on 
the board, shall not 
bruise its feet ; at 
the top there is a 
stout wooden hoop 
which extends out three or four inches so that the child's 




74 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

head may be protected from swinging boughs or fall- 
ing branches when the mother carries it on her back, 
as she always does while attending to her work in the 
cornfield or the lodge. 

The baby is wrapped in strips of softest deer hide, 
the bandages beginning at the feet and winding around 
until even the arms and hands are bound tightly to 
the child's sides, while the face, except for the hood of 
which I have spoken, is left uncovered. There are 
two holes, one on either side of the upper end of the 
board, through which are passed thongs of buck skin, 
serving to tie the cradle, baby, and all, on the mother's 
back; for fastenings are passed over her shoulders, 
under her arms, and then tied to the bottom of the board 
in such a fashion that even though she bends over at 
her work of hoeing or cooking, the odd cradle cannot 
move about. 

COLONEL CALLAWAY ARRIVES 

We were hardly settled down in our new home when, 
one day, just as mother was calling out to Colonel Boone 
to know how soon the boys would be allowed to go to 
the creek for water, one of the men in the watch-house 
nearest the big gate cried out that a company of white 
people was coming toward the fort. 

In an instant men, women, and children were run- 



COLONEL CALLAWAY ARRIVES 



75 



ning here and there, some to scramble up on the long 
shelf of puncheons near the top of the stockade, a sort 
of platform for the marksmen, and others to gather 
near the gate to get a glimpse of the newcomers when our 
people swung back the heavy barrier. 

"It's Colonel Callaway!" I heard Jemima's father 
cry as he ran into one of the watch-houses, and shortly 




afterward we knew that the entire Callaway family, 
together with William Poague, John B. Stager, and 
their wives and children, had followed us over the Wil- 
derness Road. 

What a time of rejoicing that was ! I had seen Eliza- 
beth Callaway once, while we were living on the Clinch 



76 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

River, and had almost as much of a Hking for her as for 
Jemima. 

Soon we girls, meaning all the Poagues, Stagers, 
Callaways, and Boones, got together in father's cabin, 
while our mothers were helping the other women settle 
down, and what a nice time we had ! 



NEWS FROM THE EASTERN COLONIES 

For the first time we now heard that the eastern 
colonies had risen against the rule of the king, and 
that already war had begun. How strange it seemed 
for the people in America to dare do such a thing, and 
how we wondered whether it would make any difference 
to us way out here in Kentucky ! 

Probably our fathers had heard something about 
this before, for instead of being thrown into a turmoil, 
as I had expected, they were concerned only about 
matters which had to do with Boonesborough. 

The clear space inside the stockade was no more than 
one third of an acre, and even before the coming of these 
new settlers our cattle, horses, and sheep had eaten 
every green thing to be found there. The men had 
been speculating that very morning as to how it would 
be possible to get fodder for the beasts while the Indians 
were lurking near at hand. 

Now, however, the number of live stock was nearly 



NEWS FROM THE EASTERN COLONIES 77 

doubled, for Colonel Callaway alone had brought in 
nine sheep, two cows, and three horses, while the Poagues 
and Stagers had nearly as many more. It was really 
wicked to keep the poor things shut up inside the fort 
when there was such an abundance of grass and cane 




beyond the gate, and surely the moment had come when 
something must be done. 

Jemima saw the men gathering in one of the watch- 
houses, and we were wondering what they could be 
doing when Billy came in, announcing, as he took his 
and father's rifles from the antlers on which they hung, 



78 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

that it had been decided to drive the Hve stock outside 
to feed. 

VENTURING OUTSIDE THE FORT 

Every man and boy, except two who were to remain 
on watch, were to go boldly out as guards, and in case 
the Indians made an attack it would be the duty of the 
women and children to drive inside as many of the cattle 
as possible, while our fathers and brothers fought to 
protect us. 

Of course there was great danger that we might lose 
some of the animals if there should be a real battle; 
but even that would be better than to have to kill the 
poor things simply to save them from starvation. 

It was the first time I had been through the gate since 
the day we entered the stockade, and how good it did 
seem to walk on the grass ! Our mothers joined us, mak- 
ing it seem much like some merrymaking on the Yad- 
kin, save that we were constantly watching for a ghmpse 
of feathers among the trees on the edge of the forest, 
or hstening for the watchman's cry, which would give 
warning that the Indl ns were about. 

However, not one of .hem dared show himself while 
our men and boys stood ready to shoot down the first 
who appeared, and before the day had come to an end 
we had nearly forgotten our fear. 

While the men stood on guard, I could hear them talk- 



DIVIDING THE LAND 



79 



ing about the location of the plantations they expected 

to lay out the next spring, and it pleased me much when 

father, pointing to a rising piece of ground overlooking 

the creek, and not 

more than a mile 

from the fort, said 

to Colonel Callaway 

that there he hoped 

to build a home when he 

should be able to work with 

safety in the forest. 

From that day until a cer- 
tain time, of which I shall 
tell later, the horses, sheep, 
and 'cows were driven outside 
the fort each morning, with a 
guard of men and boys to 
watch them ; after a week 
had passed we girls began to 
think there were no longer any savages about, even 
though the hunters claimed to see fresh signs every 
time they went into the forest ir search of game. 

DIVIDING THE LAND 




Mother says I should tell something about the rest- 
lessness which was coming over our people in regard to 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



8o 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



dividing the land, if I expect this to be a story of our 
struggles, not only against the savages who prowled 
around for the sole pleasure of shedding blood, but 
against those Indians whom General Hamilton, the 
British commander at Detroit, set upon us when the 




Fr^nk J.Mur<h 



eastern colonies and the king's soldiers were really 
at war against one another. 

First, I should say that Colonel Richard Henderson, 
expecting to make a great deal of money, had bought 
his land with such trifles as beads, hatchets, and other 
things that the savages wanted. Then he hired many 



WHO OWNED KENTUCKY? 8i 

men, as I have already said, to make the Wilderness 
Road, so that people might find it easy to get into that 
part of the country. 

Colonel Boone, my father, and, in fact, nearly all 
the men in Boonesborough beheved at first that Colonel 
Henderson had a right to the land, having bought it 
as I have said, and when this fort was finished, they 
were ready to buy plantations from him. 

WHO OWNED KENTUCKY? 

Before we from the CHnch River arrived, Colonel 
Henderson had opened a land office in the fort, and was 
selling plantations to the people of this settlement, of 
Harrodstown, Hinkson's, and all the other stockades 
about, at the rate of thirteen and one third cents an 
acre. The colonel also brought over the trace goods 
to sell, charging our people big prices, even as he did for 
powder ; but when he wanted to hire men to work for 
him at clearing land, or bringing burdens over the 
mountains, he was willing to pay only from thirty- 
three to fifty cents a day. The men could use up a 
day's pay in less than an hour's fighting with the In- 
dians, and they did not think it right for the settlers 
to be obHged to buy powder and bullets at such a big 
price, only to use them in defending Colonel Hender- 
son's land. 



82 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



More than five hundred thousand acres of land had 
been sold, or spoken for, at the time Colonel Callaway's 
family joined us. I suppose the men were growing 
dissatisfied with paying out so much money when they 
could earn only very little, for each day the talk became 




warmer, until many of them insisted that the matter 
should be laid before the Assembly of Virginia, to learn 
whether Colonel Henderson's claim to the land was 
really just, simply because he had bought it from the 
Cherokees, when the Shawnees and all the other savages 
who hunted in Kentucky might claim the land as well. 



MAKING READY TO BUILD A HOME 83 

However, it was a long time before our men could 
have the matter settled, and those who had bought 
land were eager to begin work upon it, so that seeds 
might be planted in the early spring. Five or six, 
therefore, among whom was my father, set about cut- 
ting down trees with which to build a home outside the 
fort, some of them working a full mile and a half from 
the stockade. 

Day after day passed and the Indians remained hid- 
den in the forest ; they were keeping a sharp watch over 
the fort, as we knew from the signs found by the hunters. 
When I wanted to go with Billy to see what father was 
doing, mother refused to let me wander farther from 
the gate than two hundred paces, saying again and 
again that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound 
of cure. 

MAKING READY TO BUILD A HOME 

Father, believing that the Indians had given up 
trying to kill us, despite all Colonel Boone said to the 
contrary, was eager to get his land ready for planting, 
but decided that he would make no attempt at building 
a house until another spring. He wanted only to clear 
the land, and in such work Billy could be of almost 
as much assistance as a man. 

There were shrubs and bushes to be grubbed up by 
the roots, small trees to be cut down and larger ones 



84 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



girdled, and again a certain number felled to be used 
in making the house. Of course I should say that when 
our people "girdle'' a tree, they simply cut a deep 

line entirely around 
the trunk, through 
the bark and into the 
wood, so the sap will 
flow out instead of 
going up into the 
branches ; this causes 
the tree to die very 
quickly. Later, 
standing stumps 
can be pulled up 
so that a plow may 
be used more easily. 

When I ' said . to 
father one night, while 
he and Billy were 
laying plans for the, 
next day's work, that 
a cornfield filled 
with stumps would 
not be a very beau- 
tiful sight, he repeated mother's old saying which often 
tries my temper because she seldom uses it save to my 
disadvantage, "Handsome is that handsome does," 




BILLY'S HARD LOT 85 

and then went on to say that while it would please him 
to have a fine plantation, his only aim just then was to 
raise enough corn and potatoes to keep his family from 
want. 

billy's hard lot 

Poor Billy ! Day after day, except when he was 
appointed by Colonel Boone to serve as one of the 
guards over the cattle, he was forced to go up the creek 
with father, working hard from early light until so 
late that often mother would blow the horn loudly, 
calling them home for fear lest the Indians near 
would take advantage of the gloaming to creep up 
on them. 

"If I ever build a home for myself," Billy said to me 
one night when his arms were so stiff from labor that 
he could hardly raise the journey cake to his mouth, 
"If I ever build a home for myself it will be in a country 
where some other has cleared the land, for I have had 
enough grubbing and chopping and mauling of rails 
to serve me to the end of my life." 

It pleased me when father praised Billy for being 
an industrious boy and I have heard him tell mother 
many a time that Billy could cut and split no less than 
seventy rails a day out of blue- ash wood ; but of course 
when it came to hickory trees, thirty was a good day's 
stint, especially for so small a boy. 



86 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



I was puzzled to know why father should keep split- 
ting rails, if he was so eager to have the ground cleared 
before winter should come, but he said that he intended 
by the coming summer to have fenced in on his planta- 
tion a piece of land that should serve as pasture. It 




would not only be a saving of labor for us, but do away 
with the need of our venturing into the forest after 
the cattle. 

Twice while father was working upon his plantation 
Jemima and I went down to help burn the small 
branches of the trees. It was fine sport to make the 
big piles and then to see the flames streaming high into 



PREPARING NETTLE-BARK FLAX 87 

the air, sending forth clouds of smoke in odd, dancing 
forms. 

It is not to be supposed that while father and Billy 
were clearing the land, mother and I remained inside 
the stockade idle. Indeed we had so much to do that, 
save when Jemima and I went to burn the brush, I do 
not believe I had at any time a full hour for pleasure 
with the other girls in the fort. 

PREPARING NETTLE-BARK FLAX • 

Although we had as yet no loom on which to weave 
cloth, father had made for mother a spinning wheel, 
promising that during the next year a loom should be 
set up, and she and I spent many an hour rippling, clean- 
ing, and even braking and swingling, what we called flax. 

Of course we had no real flax then in Kentucky. 
Save for here and there a small patch which had been 
planted by the men before we women folks came, none 
of the land was under cultivation. 

Did you ever see the wild nettle growing, and notice 
the silky fiber that runs through the leaves? If so, 
you will know where mother got material for weaving 
into cloth. Whether it was her own notion, or some 
friendly person had told her that this could be done, I 
know not ; but it is certain that during five or six days 
all of us, including father, gathered wild nettles, pre- 



88 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



paring the rind or bark exactly as you would flax, save 
that we did little rippling, by which I mean combing 
out the fibers over nails that are set in a board to make 
a comb. Instead, we set the leaves in the creek, after 
having driven stakes around to hold them in place and 
having piled up layer after layer of the green nettles. 




the whole being weighted with saplings and heavy 
rocks so that it would not float away. When the mass 
had rotted, we could take it out and easily get rid of 
the decayed portion. 

After this the fibers were tied in bundles. Then came 
the braking, when it was put between two tree trunks 
which had been hewed into little edges to fit one between 



SPINNING AND SOAP MAKING 89 

the other like the cogs of a wheel ; the upper trunk was 
brought down heavily upon the lower in such a manner 
that the weedy part of the fiber would be broken and 
bruised so that it could be swingled with a block and 
knife, until everything save the silky veins was scraped 
or shaved off. 

Then we made the clean fibers up into bundles, which 
would have been called '^strikes" in the case of real 
flax, and these were swingled again until every tiny 
thread was thoroughly cleaned, after which came the 
hackling, when the fiber was dampened and drawn 
through sharp pegs that had been set close together 
in a board until a square of perhaps four or five inches 
had been formed of these small points. The hackling 
determines the fineness of the thread, since it separates 
each large fiber into very many small ones. 

SPINNING AND SOAP MAKING 

And then the spinning ! How homelike it sounded 
when, after a long time of the hardest kind of work, we 
had ready the nettle fiber for the wheel, and mother 
sat in front of the fireplace drawing out the long threads 
as she crooned the songs I had heard her sing on the 
Yadkin, but which never had come to her lips from 
the time we left the old home until this day on which 
the wheel was first set to whirling. 



90 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



I cannot say how many skeins of thread mother spun 
in one day, but there were many. None of it was Hght 
in color, yet she did not expect to bleach it, because it 
made very little difference to us at Boonesborough 
whether our garments were white or brown. 

After the spinning came the soap making, which was 
done outside the cabin. Father made for us an ash 

hopper out of splints 
which he had taken 
from a blue-ash tree. 
The bottom, which 
was smaller than the 
top, was packed with 
dried buffalo grass 
to the depth of 
three or four inches 
as a strainer. Under- 
neath it was a trough 
directly below the 
hole in the bottom 
of the hopper. 
Then we filled it with ashes, and from time to time 
poured warm water over them, which, settling down and 
down, came out finally into the trough as lye, weak at 
first, but stronger and stronger as it was poured back 
time and time again to run through the ashes until it 
became as brown as the mixture in a tanning vat. To 




BROOM MAKING 91 

this we added bear's fat, and the whole was boiled until 
it became soap, soft and ill-smelUng ; but yet we had 
no other, except for special days, when, by adding a bit 
of salt and boiling it still more, the whole became har- 
dened like a piece of journey cake. 

This soap was most convenient to use when washing 
one's hands and face; but mother said we could not 
afford the luxury, with salt at twenty dollars a bushel, 
except on some unusual occasion like a birthday. 

BROOM MAKING 

One who had never lived in the wilderness might 
suppose that on days when it was too stormy to work out 
of doors or to hunt, a boy could pass the time in the 
house as best suited him ; but not so in Kentucky. 

While clearing the land, whenever father came upon 
a small, straight-grained, hickory sapling that seemed 
fitted for the purpose, he brought it home with him at 
night, so that Billy might make brooms and brushes 
on stormy days, when he was forced to remain indoors. 

I have seen my brother sit hour after hour split- 
ting with infinite care the tiny fibers of wood from one 
end of the sapling up to the length of eight or ten inches, 
until he had made as perfect a brush as one formed of 
coarse hairs, save for the heart, or core, which was cut 
out because it was too brittle to split well. Around 



92 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



the fibers, within an inch or two of the top, a green withe 
was bound so tightly as to force outward the lower ends 
of the splints. If to be used as a broom, the handle, 
or upper part of the sapling, was 
left long ; but as a brush around 
the fireplace, it was cut off much 
shorter. 

It seemed as if we were 

living industrious, peaceful 

lives in Kentucky, and so we 

were during all too short a 

time. Even though it was 

probable the Indians 

were lurking about, 

our hunters were ever 

ready to take their lives 

in their hands in order 

to supply us with food, and 

hardly a day passed that 

we did not have turkeys, 

pigeons, or squirrels, and so many deer that I dreaded 

the time when once more we must set about the work 

of tanning, as we had done on the Cliixch River. 

The knowledge that we were making a home for our- 
selves at the same time we bore our share in building 
up a town in the wilderness, really seemed to lighten 
the labor, severe though it was. 




MORE INDIAN MURDERS 



93 



MORE INDIAN MURDERS 



One morning, it was near to Christmas I remember, 
because of Billy's desire to have a day's hunting in the 
woods, Sam McQuinney and Daniel Saunders an- 
nounced in the stockade that they were going out to 

trap turkeys, which would 

be cheaper than killing them 

with a rifle while powder cost 

so much money. 

Billy was wild to go 
and I came near losing 
my temper when father in- 
sisted that he must work 
at clearing the plantation. 
It seemed to me wicked to 
make the lad grub and 
hew all the day long while 
other children in Boones- 
borough were given a holiday now and then. 

How often have I repented for these unkind thoughts, 
and how many times since have I dreamed that BiUy 
was allowed to go with Sam and Daniel ! 

Because our people had apparently come to believe 
there was no longer any danger from the Indians, no 
one gave much heed when Sam said it was possible 
that he and Daniel might not come home till next day, 




94 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

if there was a chance of bringing back a lot of turkeys 
by that time, and the boys set off, calHng out to Jemima 
as they passed her home : — 

" Don'.t weep for us any longer, Jemima Boone, 
For we're coming back to see you mighty soon." 

That was the last time we saw them alive. 

When night came and they had not returned, every 
one supposed the boys had decided to wait for the first 
catch of turkeys ; but when the sun set again, and 
nothing had been heard, their parents began to fear 
some accident had befallen them. 

It was not until the third day after they went away 
that four of our hunters set off in search of them, and 
then Sam's body was found about halfway between the 
creek and the river. He had been scalped, most likely 
on the very day he left us. 

Daniel has never been heard of from that time until 
this. His mother hopes he may yet be alive, held pris- 
oner by the Indians ; but father says he would rather 
see Billy lying dead before him than think of his being 
held captive. 

INDIAN "signs" 

It can well be supposed that this made our people 
more cautious about their own safety. Work on the 
land was stopped, and we women and children were 



INDIAN ''SIGNS" 



95 



forced to stay inside the stockade while the hunters 
ranged the woods near and far to learn what they might 
of the savages. 

Before this search had come to an end enough was 
found to prove that the Indians had been hovering 
close about us all the 
time we were feeling so 
safe. That they had 
not killed more 
of us during 
the time when y.< 




every one wandered at will around the stockade, was 
thought by Colonel Boone to be because they intended 
soon to make an attack upon the fort and hoped to 
make us believe they had departed. 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



96 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

You may be certain that we were exceedingly cau- 
tious for a long time after this. The gates were kept 
closed and barred, the boys were carefully guarded 
as they brought water from the creek, and four men 
were constantly on duty in the watch-houses. 

A large quantity of dry grass and cane had been 
gathered for the cattle and sheep, therefore we should 
not see them suffering for food, as when we first 
arrived. 

Then came the snow. When the storm had cleared 
away, our hunters went out to make another search. 
After three days, they came back and delighted us with 
the report that it was positive the savages no longer re- 
mained about ; but for how many days they might leave 
us in peace no one could say. 

However, our people hunted as they pleased, and 
went to. and fro from the stockade to the creek with- 
out a guard ; finally, matters went on much as before 
poor Sam was murdered and Daniel carried away. 

Father's work on the plantation was ended until 
warm weather came again, when he would plant the 
first crop, and then build our home. Consequently 
Billy, having made a good store of brooms, and having 
nothing to do but look after the horses, cattle, and 
sheep, went much into the woods with the men, and it 
pleased me to know the poor boy was finally having 
an opportunity of enjoying himself. 



WOODCRAFT AND HUNTING 97 

WOODCRAFT AND HUNTING 

He hoped to become a mighty hunter Hke Colonel 
Boone, and would spend the evenings telling me what 
he had learned of woodcraft. I soon came to know 
that one must not go for deer after the leaves have 
fallen and while they yet lie dry upon the ground ; nor 
should he hunt while the snow is falling, for then he 
can neither track the animals nor follow their course 
by the blood if they have been wounded. 

The best time for such work, so Billy declares, is 
when the snow lies two or three inches deep, when the 
frost is sharp and the air calm. In stormy weather 
deer seek the sheltered places on that side of a hill 
which is protected from the wind, while in rainy weather 
and when there is no wind, the hunter must look for 
them in the open woods on the highest ground. 

Billy claims, and father says it is true, that one can 
tell direction by the bark on the trees, because on the 
north side it is thicker and rougher than on the south ; 
also moss grows on the north side. 

I surely hope Billy will be a great hunter and that 
he can hold his own with all the others in wrestling, 
running, leaping, and shooting, else he is likely to make 
a poor sort of man here in Kentucky, where strength 
and skill are needed if one would live and support a 
family. 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



Billy likes to tell of the night when he and father went 
to a salt lick three miles down the creek and built there 
a tiny hut of branches, in 
which they hid until day- 
break, when the deer came 
to drink. They killed 
three fine bucks and two 
does; on the way home 
BiUy '^called" a wild 
turkey within rifle range. 
I really wish 
some of the 
folks on the 
Yadkin could 




hear him "gobble"; he does it so naturally that 
you would surely think an old turkey was strutting 
around close at hand. Father declares that Billy will 
stand at the head of our hunters when he is man 
grown. 



PELTS USED AS MONEY 



99 



PELTS USED AS MONEY 

During that winter Billy was very fortunate in getting 
furs, and brought in so many that father told him he 
was earning more than half enough to support the entire 
family, which made the boy exceedingly proud. 

We have very little real money, such as is used in 
the eastern colonies ; even Colonel Henderson pays 
his laborers in goods or ammunition. We do our trad- 
ing with furs. During our first year in Boonesborough 
it was agreed that a beaver, otter, fisher, dressed buck- 




skin, or a large bearskin was equal in value to two 
foxes or wildcats, four coons, or eight minks. 



loo HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

To pay for linsey-woolsey enough for a dress for me, 
mother was asked to give two beaver and three mink 
skins; but she very wisely said I could wear my old 
frock another year, or make a new one of doeskin, 
rather than spend so much, for when we have our loom, 
she can weave all the cloth of every kind that may be 
needed. 

During this winter, when our men had little to do 
save see that the fort was kept well supplied with meat, 
the people from Harrodstown, Boiling Spring, and 
Hinkson's, together with us of Boonesborough, sent 
a petition to the Virginia Assembly, protesting against 
many things which Colonel Henderson had done and 
was doing. Among these matters they claimed that he 
had no right to our land, which he had already named 
Transylvania, because the Cherokees could not sell 
that which they did not really own. 

We children heard the affair talked of so much that 
we could repeat nearly the entire petition, long as it 
was. Just now I remember only the last part of it, 
which was much like this : — 

THE PETITION OF THE SETTLERS 

^^And, as we are anxious to concur in every respect 
with our brethren of the United Colonies, for our just 
rights and privileges, as far as our infant settlement and 



THE PETITION OF THE SETTLERS loi 

remote situation will admit of, we humbly expect and im- 
plore to he taken under the protection of the honorable 
Convention of the Colony of Virginia^ of which we can- 
not help thinking ourselves still a part, and request your 
kind interposition in our behalf, that we may not suffer 
under the rigorous demands and impositions of the gen- 
tlemen styling themselves Proprietors, who, the better to 
effect their oppressive designs, have given them the color 
of a law, enacted by a score of men, artfully picked from 
the few adventurers who went to see the country last sum- 
mer, overawed by the presence of Mr. Render son J ^ 

I distinctly remember that part of it because Jemima 
used to laugh over the idea of calling ourselves an 
"infant" settlement. She said that if the people of 
Virginia could see some of our dandy rufflers standing 
on a stump crowing like a cock because of having beaten 
another at wrestling or leaping, they would think we 
were indeed healthy infants. 

Father believes that some of the language in the peti- 
tion was too strong, because Colonel Boone and Mr. 
Harrod were among those "artfully picked" ; but 
neither of the men seemed to think there was any- 
thing disrespectful in such words, and actually signed 
the petition. 

During stormy winter days father and Billy with axes 
dug out troughs from buckeye logs, which we might 
use for collecting sap as soon as the time came for sugar 



I02 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



making. How we children watched for a change in 
the weather which should tell that the day was near at 
hand when we might revel in sweets ! Elizabeth Cal- 
laway gave me a spoonful of sugar shortly after her 




family came into the fort, and from that time I had not 
tasted anything in the way of sweetness. Now, how- 
ever, we promised ourselves that plenty of sugar should 
be made as soon as the sap began to run, and Billy 
announced that he expected to get plenty of wild honey 



MAKING SUGAR 103 

during the summerj no matter how many Indians might 
be skulking around. 

MAKING SUGAR 

All the children in the fort were ready on that day 
when our fathers told us the work might begin, and al- 
though we had neither heard nor seen anything of the 
Indians for many a day, four of the hunters went out 
to stand guard while the boys made deep wounds in 
the trees with axes. 

Then, while the men put up a half-faced camp, we 
girls carried the troughs to the trees that had been 
tapped and watched with eager eyes as the sap oozed 
out drop by drop, but yet so rapidly as to give promise 
of a good yield. 

Perhaps there are some who do not know what a 
''half -faced" camp is like. A big tree was cut down, 
and the branches trimmed off for a length of eight or ten 
feet from the butt. This, as it lay on the ground, 
served for the back side. Ten feet in front, and ten 
feet apart, two double sets of stakes were stuck in 
the ground for the four corners. Between the double 
stakes were laid poles extending from one corner to an- 
other. At each side more poles were placed from the 
front to the rear, a few inches apart, after the fashion 
of latticework. 



I04 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



Across the top for a roof poles were laid, between 
which we girls wove branches of trees until the whole 
would serve fairly well as a shelter against wind and 




rain. The front part was left open, which, I suppose, 
is the reason why it is called half -faced, and here a fire 
was built for boiling the sap. 



BUILDING FENCES AND SHEARING SHEEP 105 

Colonel Callaway brought with him his horse ; 
father made of tree tops what would serve as a sled, 
and on it we hauled the troughs to the camp as fast as 
they were partly filled. 

Then came the boiling down, which was continued 
far into the night by the men and boys, for we girls 
were obliged to be inside the fort before sunset ; but 
when the sap had thickened to a sirup, we made spice- 
wood tea from half-opened buds, whitened it with milk, 
and sweetened the mixture until none but those who were 
half -starved for something sweet could have drunk it. 

What sport we had ! And how sticky we all were 
until the sugar making came to an end, and the fruits 
of our labor had been stored in one of the watch-houses 
that we might have molasses or sugar during the rest 
of the year. 

When the snow had entirely melted from the ground, 
father went to work once more on our plantation, and 
Billy's portion of the labor was to maul rails until he 
had enough with which to fence off a pasture for the 
live stock. 

BUILDING FENCES AND SHEARING SHEEP 

Poor boy ! There was no more merrymaking for 
him inside the stockade, where, nearly all the time, a 
number of idlers could be found ready to wrestle, leap, 



io6 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



or run races. He wasn't strong enough to build the 
whole fence ; but he could lay the worm, which means 
the bottom rail, and he could also drive in the stakes, 
or checks. Before shearing time came we had a splen- 
did pasture from which the live stock could not stray. 
As soon as the weather grew warm it was decided 
that all the sheep should be sheared at the same time, 




franK J. MurK.h 






each family setting about the work with their neigh- 
bors until it was finished. 

We girls drove the animals down to the creek, where 
the boys had great sport washing the long wool, which 



THE CAPTURE OF THE GIRLS 107 

was exceedingly dirty and filled with cockles and other 
burs. As the poor beasts came up out of the water 
nearly frightened to death, their legs were tied together, 
and then the shearing began. 

The whole number of sheep belonging to us of Boones- 
borough was not above thirty, therefore the task was 
readily finished in one day; but on the next and the 
next, and many another day, I was kept busy pulling 
the burs and bits of wood from the wool. 

After this, however, the work was not so disagreeable, 
for I dearly loved to card the fleece into rolls for spin- 
ning, and the buzz of the wheel, when mother allowed 
me to do the double-and-twisting, was like real music. 
I should not boast ; but Jemima has said again and 
again that her mother often held me up as a model at 
such work, and it is indeed true that I could do it quickly 
and well. 

And now I have come to what might have been a 
most terrible disaster but for the mercy of God, as 
mother says. 

THE CAPTURE OF THE GIRLS 

It was on a hot day in July, when even the most in- 
dustrious of our company were forced to seek some 
spot where they could be sheltered from the burning 
rays of the sun, that Billy and I were sitting just within 
the shadow of the watch-house nearest the creek, when 



io8 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

Elizabeth Callaway, with her sister Fanny and Jemima 
Boone, came over to ask if we would go on the water in 
her father's canoe. 

I knew that by drifting down the creek as far as the 
river we would find a cooling breeze, and I dearly 




wanted to go with the girls, as did Billy ; but only the 
day before mother had said that, without first getting 
her consent, we must not wander a hundred paces from 
the fort, unless we went to the plantation with father. 
Billy went at once to find her, beheving she might 
be in Mrs. Boone's cabin ; but she was not there, and 
he spent so much time searching for her that Elizabeth 
finally said that they would go on, but that we should 
follow when mother had given permission. 



MY WILLFUL THOUGHTS 109 



MY WILLFUL THOUGHTS 

They went away, and I watched them drifting down 
the creek, thinking mother was unreasonable not to 
let us go wherever we pleased, as long as there was 
nothing to be feared from the Indians. I was not 
allowed to do as the other girls in the fort did, and I 
was feeling quite wronged by the time Billy came back 
to say that mother was not wilHng we should go. 

''She thinks we are still babies and can't be trusted 
out of her sight," he said angrily, and straightway in 
a fit of the sulks threw himself down on the ground by 
my side. 

We remained there until father came up from the 
plantation, and then I was forced to help mother cook 
supper. 

The girls had not come back at that time, although 
it was within half an hour of sunset ; but I was so oc- 
cupied that I gave little or no heed to the matter until 
Mrs. Boone came in, long after we had eaten supper, to 
learn if Jemima had told me where she was going. 

Then, as can well be supposed, there was an exciting 
time. It seemed certain some accident had happened, 
otherwise the girls would never have stayed away from 
the fort after dark, and I began to realize that perhaps 
one's father and mother knew what was best, while 



110 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



Billy whispered to me that we hadn't been wronged so 
much after all. 

It was while the women were running to and fro in 
distress, and the men were getting ready to go in search 




of the missing ones, that Samuel Henderson, who ex- 
pected some day to be married to Elizabeth Callaway, 
came running into the stockade with the very worst 
news that could have been brought. 

He had been on the river locating some land which 
his brother had sold to John Holder, and had come back 
by way of the creek. When he was within less than a 



FINDING THE TRAIL iii 

mile of the fort, he found an overturned canoe which 
he recognized as Colonel Callaway's, and on the bank 
of the creek were marks of a struggle, the footprints 
showing that some of those who made them were white 
women. 

Half frantic with fear and apprehension, he hurried 
on to the fort, for it was by this time too dark to follow 
the trail. 

FINDING THE TRAIL 

At that moment Colonel Boone was in the forest, and 
nearly an hour passed before he came back ; but the 
time was not wasted, because it would have been of lit- 
tle avail to set off in the night, and no one in the stock- 
ade would have thought of going on such an errand 
without Jemima's father to lead the way. 

Immediately after Colonel Boone came back he called 
upon Samuel Henderson to lead him to the place where 
the canoe had been seen, and, taking with him four or 
five pine knots that he might examine the trail by aid 
of a light, he with a number of the men went away, 
leaving us women and children stupefied with fear and 
grief. 

When Colonel Boone came back, he said that a small 
party of Shawnees had done the cruel deed; he could 
say to what tribe they belonged by the marks left 
by their moccasins, for he was indeed a skillful 

HANNAH OF KENTUCKY — 8 



112 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



woodsman. At once everybody was astir, making 
ready for the men to set off in pursuit. 

Not even Samuel 
Henderson dared 
ask Colonel Boone 
if he believed it 
possible to rescue 
the girls. I never 
saw Jemima's 
father look so en- 
raged as he did 
then. His lips were 
closed tightly; his 
nostrils expanded 
and closed, as do 
those of a horse 
who has run a long 
race, while he 
seemed trying to 
shun all our com- 
pany, except his wife, whose arm he gripped from 
time to time. 




THE PURSUIT 



Colonel Boone divided the men into two companies, 
for it was not certain but that those Indians who had 



THE PURSUIT 



113 



captured the girls might have carried them away in a 
canoe. One party, with Colonel Callaway at the head, 
set off for Licking River, thinking they might come upon 
the Shawnees at the ford of the lower Blue Lick, while 
the other, led by Colonel Boone himself and including 
Samuel Henderson and Flanders Callaway, followed 
the trail that led up from the creek. 

Colonel Callaway's party started two hours before 
dayHght, for they had no trail to follow; but Colonel 
Boone waited until day was just beginning to break, 
when he and the others of his company went out of 
the fort, after cautioning us to keep the gates closed and 
barred until they should come back or had sent a mes- 
senger. 

My father was given charge of the stockade, and he 
took his station in the watch-house nearest the river, 
while we women and children wandered around from 
one cabin to another, too sad to be able to go about 
our regular work. 

During the next three days we were most anxious. 
Nearly every one in the stockade had given up hope, 
and all were mourning the poor girls as dead, or worse, 
when father, who was in the watch-house, shouted 
so that you might have heard him half a mile 
away : — 

"They're coming! They're coming, and the girls 
are w.'th them !" 



114 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



THE STORY TOLD BY JEMIMA 



Ten minutes later I had Jemima in my arms, and 
she was teUing me all the dreadful story. 

It seems that while the canoe was drifting down the 
creek, close to the bank, and when it was near the mouth 
of the river, five Shaw- 
nees in full war paint 
suddenly came from the 
bushes and waded into 
the water until one of 




them took hold of the canoe, shoving it in front of 
him toward the shore. Jemima confesses that she 
was nearly dead with fear, believing all three of them 
would be killed at once ; but she screamed with her 
full strength until a big hand was clapped over her 
mouth in such a manner that she could hardly breathe. 
Fanny Callaway sat like a statue, so Jemima says, 
her face as white as if she had been dead, and seem- 
ingly unable even to whisper; but Elizabeth showed 



ELIZABETH'S HEROISM 115 

her courage in a way to make us people of Boones- 
borough, and particularly Samuel Henderson, proud 
of her. 

She picked up one of the paddles and, before the 
painted Shawnee realized what she was about, brought 
it down on his head so hard as to cause a severe wound. 

It was of little use for the poor girls to fight, however. 
They were without weapons, and there were five of 
the Indians, who, after dragging the prisoners ashore, 
threatened to tomahawk the first that made the slightest 
outcry. 

Of course the girls knew that the Indians would not 
hesitate to carry out such a threat, so they held their 
peace. 

Before setting off across country the savages made 
Jemima and Fanny put on Indian moccasins, so that 
our people might not be able to trace them readily; 
but Elizabeth refused to take off her shoepacks, and 
because of her spunk it was possible for Colonel Boone 
and his party to make certain they were on the right 
trail. 

Elizabeth's heroism 

She not only refused to wear their moccasins ; but 
she tore off little bits of her linsey-woolsey gown, drop- 
ping them on the ground, and now and then she bent 
or broke a twig in such a manner that those who 



ii6 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



followed must know it had been done by a white 

prisoner. 

When the Shawnees saw what she was about, one 

of them threatened to strike her down with his toma- 
hawk and promised to kill her 
without warning if she did 
anything more of the kind. 
Elizabeth had sense enough to 
understand that the threat 
would be carried out, and 
ceased trying to leave a trail 
in that way ; but whenever she 
came to damp ground, she set 
her foot down firmly, in order 
to leave the plain imprint of 
her shoepack, and this was of 
great assistance to those who 
were following. 

During the evening of the 

day they were captured, and 

throughout all the daylight 

of the following forty-eight 

hours, those poor girls were 

forced to walk at their best pace, for it was not until 

early morning of the third d^y that our people came 

upon them. 

Jemima could not tell me very much about what 




RESCUING THE GIRLS 117 

happened when they were finally rescued. On the 
next day, however, when I found Flanders and Jemima 
sitting together inside the stockade, I asked him to 
tell me what had been done by Colonel Boone and his 
company. 

RESCUING THE GIRLS 

Colonel Boone was much aided by Elizabeth's trail, 
and never once did he lose sight of it for more than a few 
moments at a time, and at daybreak of the third morn- 
ing after the girls had been captured, Colonel Boone 
and his party saw in the distance the smoke of a camp 
fire. 

There could be no question but that they had come 
to an end of the chase, and Flanders described how 
cautiously the men crept up, for there was every rea- 
son to believe the Indians would kill their captives if 
they saw our people in time to commit such a terrible 
crime. 

The Shawnees were cooking breakfast, and a dozen 
paces away sat the three girls, Ehzabeth upright like 
the brave woman she is, and the other girls with their 
heads in her lap. 

You can fancy how carefully our men looked to the 
priming of their rifles, when Colonel Boone whispered 
that each was to select his target, and with what care 
they took aim. The first the poor girls knew that 



ii8 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

friends were near at hand was when the reports of five 
guns rang out. 

One of the Indians fell forward upon the fire, but 
quickly scrambled to his feet and disappeared in the 
cane brush as if badly wounded; no one could say 
whether the others were hurt or not. At all events. 




they disappeared amid the thick canes, leaving behind 
them guns, moccasins, knives, and tomahawks, all 
of which were in a pile near a log where a shelter of 
' boughs had been put up. 

Colonel Boone would not listen to the proposal of a 
chase. The cane was so thick that it would have been 
an easy matter for the savages to remain in hiding, 



THE ALARM AMONG THE SETTLERS 119 

and no one could say how many might be around. 
Besides, the first thoughts of all were for the girls, and 
by the time it had been learned that they were not 
injured, the Indians had had ample chance to get 
away. 

Little of anything save the rescue was talked about 
during that evening after the girls were brought home ; 
but the next morning our men began to wonder whether 
the Shawnees might not be making ready to attack 
Boonesborough, or why was that party of five skulking 
around so near the fort ? Our people were not the only 
ones who were alarmed just at that time. 

THE ALARM AMONG THE SETTLERS 

On the next day after Jemima was brought home 
seven men from Hinkson's came into the fort, declar- 
ing that the savages were rising against us, and begging 
that we go back to Virginia with them. It was enough 
to scare even a brave person to hear the tales those 
frightened people had to tell, regarding what the In- 
dians were making ready to do ; but father insisted 
that they had cut out of whole cloth considerably more 
than half of all their stories. 

Those men were determined to go back over the Wil- 
derness Road while there was yet time to save their 
lives, and ten of our company were persuaded to join 



I20 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



them, despite all Colonel Boone and Colonel Callaway 
could say to the contrary. 

Father said we were well rid of the cowards, "for if 
it happened that the Indians did make an attack on 




Boonesborough, we wanted with us none but those 
who could stand up and fight as long as a single charge 
of powder was left. 

Neither Colonel Boone nor any of our men whom 
I heard talking about the matter believed there was a 
grain of truth in what the people from Hinkson's had 



INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 121 

told. They knew it was likely the savages might come 
upon us at any time ; but we were in a strong fort and 
would be able, not only to hold our own, but, perhaps, 
to prevent the savages from doing very much mischief 
in the country roundabout. 

The cowards from Hinkson's had hardly more than 
left us before people from all around came in, nearly 
dead with fear, until there were times when the stockade 
was so crowded one could barely move about. 

They came in parties of five or ten, some from Har- 
rodstown, others from Boiling Springs and from Mil- 
ler's, until it reaUy seemed as if all the white people 
in Kentucky were going back over the Wilderness 
Road. 

INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 

Within a week a messenger arrived from the Watauga 
settlements with the warning that the Cherokees were 
on the warpath there and were coming to drive us away. 

It was only to be expected that, as man after man 
came in with word of what the Indians were doing, even 
the less timorous of our people should become alarmed, 
and there was such a panic in Boonesborough that it 
seemed as if the result might be that all our hopes of a 
settlement in Kentucky must come to naught. 

Billy and I overheard a conversation in one of the 
watch-houses one day which gave us a better idea than 



122 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



ever before of why our people were so stubborn to 
remain in Boonesborough. 

Colonel Boone was talking to Colonel Callaway, my 
father, and two or three other men, when John Floyd 
said: — 

"I am as anxious as any other man to see my family 
in a place of safety ; but if we leave the country now, 
there is hardly a settler who will remain, 
and all that we have fought and worked for 
will be as the wind. We can defend our- 
selves here in Boonesborough until the sav- 
ages have come to 
understand that we 
are not to be driven 
out, even though we 
are forced to slaughter 
for food every head of 
cattle we have brought 
over the mountains 
with so much of labor, 
and I'm for holding 
what we have bought 
with money and a 
willingness to shed our blood." 

I dare not say how many visited our fort on their 
journey back to Virginia; but it really seemed as if 
all the people I had seen come over the Wilderness 




THE FIRST WEDDING IN KENTUCKY 123 

Road went down it again on their way to the Gap, 
and that we of Boonesborough were left alone in the 
country. 

Yet, regardless of all this trouble, and anxiety, and 
fear, we gave our minds to more pleasant matters, for 
within three weeks after the girls had been rescued 
from the Shawnees, it was decided that Elizabeth Cal- 
laway and Samuel Henderson were to be married. 

THE FIRST WEDDING IN KENTUCKY 

Only think ! The first real wedding in Kentucky, 
and I was to be there ! Shall I ever forget that wed- 
ding day ? 

Colonel Boone's brother. Squire, had given over hunt- 
ing and trapping to be a Baptist minister, and it really 
seemed as though God must have sent him to us, for 
he came just in the nick of time to marry Elizabeth 
and Samuel. Of course he had met all those cowards 
who were traveling over the Wilderness Road toward 
the Gap, and had heard the dreadful stories of what 
was being done in Kentucky by the Shawnees, yet he 
kept straight on. 

A most exciting time we had, making ready for the 
wedding, for we girls had very nearly as much to do with 
the work as did the bride. Our mothers baked twelve 
large squares of sweet bread, for we had sugar of our 



124 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



own making in abundance, and to Jemima and me was 
left the entire work of making the meal cakes. 

Then I reahzed what a blessing meal ground from 
corn is because so many things can be made from it, 

as may be seen when I tell 
you what we had for the wed- 
ding. 

First, we made quarts and 
quarts of mush, which is meal 
boiled in water until it is so 
stiff that a spoon will 
.^^i stand upright in it ; 
this was to be eaten 
with milk or sugar sirup. 
Then we baked ash cakes 
without number, as you might say. To 
make these one has only to mix meal with 
water until it can be shaped with the 
hands, and then cover the cakes with hot ashes and 
embers until they are crisp. They are very pleasant 
to the taste, although being crusted rather too thickly 
with ashes to suit me. With this dough of meal we 
could, without other mixing, make journey cake, by 
baking it on a stone or board ; hoecake by cooking it 
on the blade of a hoe ; pone by cooking it in a kettle 
covered with a heated lid ; or dodgers by molding it 
into small portions and baking it on a stone. 




THE FIRST WEDDING IN KENTUCKY 125 

I really wish you could have seen inside our stockade 
on the morning when Elizabeth and Samuel Henderson 
were to be married. The bride looked beautiful in a 
new linsey-woolsey frock of her own making, with moc- 
casins that were embroidered with beads and quills of 
the porcupine till they appeared to be made of the 




richest stuff, and a new sunbonnet which Jemima and 
I had trimmed with our own hands. 

If we had been living on our own claims, Samuel 
Henderson and his friends would have ridden to Eliza- 
beth's home in fine style ; but because we were forced 
to stay within the inclosure, all the young men secretly 
led their horses outside, where, each dressed in his 



126 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

newest or cleanest hinting shirt and leggings, they 
mounted, rode twice around the stockade, whooping 
and yelling, to dash in through the open gate and up to 
Colonel Callaway's cabin, where they pulled in their 
horses so suddenly that more than one of the animals 
fell back on his haunches, throwing his rider in dis- 
grace. 

THE WEDDING FESTIVITIES 

Of course Samuel Henderson led the party, and how 
fine he looked in his new shirt and leggings, with a mink- 
skin cap made so that the tail drooped gracefully down 
his back ! 

The night before, two fiddlers had come all the way 
from Boiling Springs to make music for the dancing, 
and when the bridegroom and his party appeared, the 
musicians struck up ^'The Campbells are Coming," 
in a way that made one fairly gasp for breath. We 
girls led Ehzabeth out near the spring, where all the 
older people were waiting. 

The ceremony was no sooner over than the bride and 
all the other girls went into the watch-house nearest 
the gate, where tables were spread with everything 
good to eat, from roasted deer meat to turkey and bear 
steaks, while the men had grand shooting matches, 
running races, and not a little wrestling, until Colonel 
Boone shouted that all were to go inside for dinner. 



THE WEDDING FESTIVITIES 



127 



I must not forget to say that Billy covered himself 
with glory during the shooting match, for when it came 
to snufhng a candle without killing the flame, he did it 
squarely and neatly three times out of four, which was 
better than any of the older men could do. I was 
proud of him, and knew that father felt much as I did, 




for he patted the boy on the head in an admiring way, 
promising that he should have a rifle with the barrel £ 
as long as Colonel Boone's, when the pelts we had 
taken the winter before were sold. 

After every one had eaten until it was not possible 
to swallow another mouthful with comfort, the dancing 
began, and how we did dance ! When night came, the 
tables were covered with food again, and the dancers 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



128 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

were glad, as I know full well, to have something more 
to eat. Of course dancing is only a pleasure, but before 
that merrymaking came to an end I was as tired as if 
I had been making soap or hackling nettle-bark all day. 

Not until next morning did the fun cease ; but long 
before the first of the merrymakers showed signs of 
having done with the wedding sport, I was in bed, 
sleeping soundly. 

Jemima and I think that Samuel Henderson was 
right lucky to get Elizabeth for a wife, because in addi- 
tion to being brave, she is a good housewife, and brings 
to her husband, a horse, two cows and a calf, four real 
wool blankets, and linen of her own weaving enough 
to fill a small chest. Colonel Callaway is well-to-do, 
otherwise his daughter never could have got together 
so much of a dowry. 



It is not to be supposed that the merrymaking was 
really at an end with the dancing. Our people were 
determined the newly married couple should be fitted 
out in proper fashion, and so the fiddlers remained to 
help in the celebration after a home for Ehzabeth and 
Samuel had been built. 

Before I was awake next morning, the older men, 
and as many of the younger ones as were not too weary 



THE BRIDE'S HOME 



129 



from having danced all night, set about building a 
cabin for the bride and groom, and, as might have 
been expected, Billy was in the thick of it, for he counted 
himself a full-grown man after having beaten his elders 
at shooting. 

I don't suppose there is any need to tell how a house 
is built out here in our country, and yet because Eliza- 




beth was the first white bride this side of the Gap, it 
really seems as if I should set down everything in which 
she had any concern. 

Samuel had already staked out the land, and it was 
not above a quarter of a mile from where our home was 



130 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

to be. On it was plenty of timber, and as soon as 
breakfast had been eaten the men of the fort set to 
work rolHng up a cabin. Some began chopping trees 
and trimming them into proper lengths to make the 
sides and ends of the house. The boys dragged out 
the logs to where the cabin was to be set up, and yet 
other men cut and spht trees into clapboards to cover 
the roof. Some worked at splitting logs into puncheons 
for the door and floor, and all labored with such a will 
that, aided at noon by those who had danced hardest 
during the night, everything was ready before sunset 
for rolling up the house, for even the foundation tim- 
bers had been laid. 

Next day the house was finished and the chimney 
put up. Elizabeth was indeed proud of it, for there 
were two windows with thin, oiled doeskin to keep out 
the rain, and heavy shutters with loopholes in case 
it should be necessary to defend the place against the 
Indians. There was a real table made of clapboards, 
plenty of pegs at one end of the room on which to hang 
things, and as many as four three-legged stools, to say 
nothing of half a dozen short logs that, when placed 
on end, were as good chairs as one could desire. 

The bed was a marvel, and I am hoping we shall 
have some just Hke it when our cabin is built. Two 
forked poles were set in the floor about seven feet apart 
and not less than five feet from the side of the house. 



THE HOUSEWARMING 131 

Across the forks, lashed by deerskin thongs that Ehza- 
beth had dyed a most beautiful red, was a stout sap- 
ling, forming the front of the bed. Across this last, 
with the ends thrust between the logs of the building, 
were placed poles which would bend easily under one's 
weight ; over these some thin puncheons were laid. 

Samuel had a quantity of bear and deerskins, smoke- 
tanned ; and when the bed was made up with them, it 
was something beautiful to look upon, besides being 
most comfortable. 

THE HOUSEWARMING 

Then, on that same evening, came the housewarming, 
when EHzabeth, with us girls to help her, cooked the 
first supper in the new fireplace, providing food enough 
for all ; after supper the dancing began, not to end un- 
til the sun had risen again. 

If ever a young couple were fortunate, it is Elizabeth 
and Samuel, for nothing could be nicer than their home, 
although thus far, owing to the Indians, they have not 
been able to live in it very much of the time. 

It was shortly after the housewarming that Simon 
Kenton, a young man, big as a giant and with long, 
curling, light hair, came to Boonesborough from 
McClelland 's Station and told us what the eastern 
colonies were doing in the war against the king. It was 



13^ 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



a tale to stir the blood, for our people in this country 
have declared that they will have no more of British 
rule. 

Billy was much excited by the news, and declared 
that he would go back alone, if necessary, over the 




Wilderness Road to help our people on the Yadkin 
show that North Carolina colonists are as good fighters 
as the settlers in Massachusetts; but father insisted 
that Billy's work was cut out here, where we must hold 
Kentucky against our enemies. 

ATTACKS BY THE INDIANS 



Within a week after Simon Kenton left us, for, in 
order to warn our people when danger threatened, he 
was going about from place to place learning what he 



ATTACKS BY THE INDIANS 



133 



could of the movements of the Indians, we heard that 
the men at McClelland's Station had had a regular 
battle with the Shawnees; worst of all, two had been 
killed and two others captured, only to be tortured at 
the stake. 

From that day we heard nothing but news of mas- 
sacres and attacks, and there was no longer any ques- 
tion but that the Indians were bent on our destruction. 

Once more we were shut up closely within the fort. 
Samuel and Elizabeth Henderson came into the stock- 




■-'T?fe& 



ade, leaving their beautiful home ; and we were able 
to gather only the smallest part of our crops. Again 
we women and children went out into the fields har- 
vesting, with all the men of the settlement to guard us, 
and scurried in whenever an alarm was raised. By 



134 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

day we watched for the savages and at night dreamed 
that they were upon us, until our Hfe, which had been 
so peaceful by comparison, was much the same as a 
torture. 

Day by day word came that not only the Shawnees, 
but all the other Indians around, were coming into 
Kentucky, being sent by the British in Detroit, who 
hoped to serve their king by hiring the savages to 
attack all the settlers in this part of the country. 

In this spring of 1777 there have been many days 
when we were actually hungry, although there was 
game to be had in abundance if our people could have 
gone out after it. First, we killed the oldest of the sheep 
for meat, because the supply of meal had run short, and 
then, one after another, the rest of the live stock, 
hoping all the while that the savages would not dare 
attack so strong a fort as ours at Booriesborough, 

BESIEGED BY THE SAVAGES 

Then, suddenly, the Indians whom General Hamil- 
ton, of Detroit, had sent against us could be seen in 
every direction around the stockade; but they took 
good care at first to keep beyond range.. Many days 
later, we learned that the wretches had made an attack 
on Harrodstown and on a fort that had been built by a 
man named Logan. I heard father say to mother, 



BESIEGED BY THE SAVAGES 



135 



when he beHeved Billy and me to be so far away we 
could not overhear the words, that at last the time had 
come when we must fight for our lives. 

Then every boy large enough to raise a rifle to his 
shoulder was given a post of duty at one or another of 
the loopholes, while the women and girls were ordered 




to go from cabin to cabin, cleaning the guns which had 
become foul from rapid firing, or loading spare weapons 
when our people were sorely pressed at this point or 
that. 

It was real war which had come upon us at last, and 
we knew that in case our men were overcome, we women 
and children would be taken captives. What our 



136 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

lives might be as slaves in the villages of the savages 
was a thought to make our blood run cold. Elizabeth 
Henderson, for one, declared that she would never be 
taken prisoner again. 

On that dreac ul' morning when we could see the 
savages skulking behind the tr^es in every direction, 
only a few shots were fired. The Indians waited in the 
hope of being able to pick off some of our men without 
exposing themselves to danger, so we in the fort were 
unable to shoot with any hope of success. 

Perhaps a dozen shots were fired from the stockade 
without effect, so far as we could see, when Flanders 
Callaway set up a shout of triumph, and the men de- 
clared that he was the first to bring down an enemy. 

Slowly the feathered headdresses could be seen ap- 
proaching the stockade. As the number increased, 
they grew bolder, until every man and boy inside the 
fort was forced to remain keenly on the alert; again 
and again Jemima and I loaded spare guns for this 
man or that, so hotly were the savages pressing us be- 
fore sunset. 

How many we killed or wounded I know not ; but 
certainly two of our men were wounded. John Holder 
had been shot through the shoulder and Benjamin 
Smith had been hit in the arm, although neither of the 
men was willing to admit that he had been hurt 
seriously. 



IN THE MIDST OF THE FIGHT 



137 



Mother and Mrs. Boone insisted on dressing the 
wounds, and would have kept both men in our cabin, 
but they refused to remain idle when every rifle was 
needed, for the Indians might make a rush at any mo- 
ment, and on account of their larg<, numbers, it was 
possible they could succeed in climbing over the stock- 
ade or in setting fire to the logs. 

IN THE MIDST OF THE FIGHT 

When night came, there was but little change in 
affairs. The twinkling lights of their camp fkes could 




138 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



be seen here and there through the leaves, and during 

all the hours of darkness we heard the yells and whoops 

which told that they were 
dancing and exulting over 
the expected victory. 

Colonel Boone insisted 
that we need have no fear 
they would make any real 
attack while it was dark, so, 
for the first time since morn- 
ing, we made an attempt 
to satisfy our. hunger. The 
smaller children had carried 
water from the spring to 
those who were on dut}^ 
and, therefore, we had not 
suffered from thirst. Two 
of the sheep had been 
killed, lessening the number 
of our flock to fifteen, and 
every man was given as 

much meat as ne needed, but the women and children 

ate sparingly. 

Billy showed himself a man on that day, and Colonel 

Callaway plainly told him he not only had done a man's 

work, but should be counted among the real defenders 

of the fort. 




THE ASSAULT BY THE INDIANS 



139 



Jemima came into our cabin that evening, and mother 
told us we must go to sleep while there was a chance ; 
we did our best, but whenever my eyelids would close 
from weariness, they opened very suddenly again as 
the yelling from the Indian camp fires burst out 
afresh. 

THE ASSAULT BY THE INDIANS 

Just before break of day the savages made a rush, 
bringing with them great armfuls of dry wood in the 




hope of setting fire to the stockade. The men in the 
watch-houses gave the alarm, and in an instant every 



I40 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

one of us inside the stockade was moving here and there 
to learn where it was possible to aid in the defense. 

What was done from daybreak until sunrise I can 
hardly say. I only know that I carried powder and 
bullets to the men who cried out that their supply of 
ammunition was running low, and that I cleaned rifles 
which had grown so hot that the barrels nearly bhstered 
my fingers, while the owners were loading and firing 
the spare weapons as quickly as possible. It seemed to 
me that I worked like one in a dream, doing whatever 
my hands found to do, and all the while asking myself 
whether I would be brave enough to endure through 
it all. 

FAILURE OF THE ASSAULT 

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the uproar died 
away, and some one in the watch-house cried out that 
the savages were running back to cover, having had 
enough of trying to capture the stockade. 

I saw a man staggering across the inclosi e toward 
his cabin with the blood streaming from a wounded 
cheek, and another sitting on the ground tying around 
his leg strips torn from his shirt, too proud to ask any 
of the women to help him ; but I was like one in a hor- 
rible dream, rather than a girl who ought to have taken 
pattern after her father, mother, and brother, by stand- 
ing up bravely with a rifle in her hands. 



FAILURE OF THE ASSAULT 



141 



During the remainder of that terrible day I had 
no clear idea of what was going on around me, save 
that always there were the horrible cries 
of the savages, the crackling of rifles, 
and the shouts of men, until one's head 
seemed bursting, and the stifling odor 
' "^ ^' of burning powder 
hung close down over one's 
mouth and nose. 

• When the afternoon 
,V^-_ was about half gone, 
'^'^■^ ^^ the word was passed 
around that the Indians 
were falling back, as if in 
despair, and I remember 
how I sat down on the 
threshold of our cabin, with the front .of my gown over 
my head, and cried ; but I could not have said why I 
wept, unless it was for joy and relief because the danger 
had passe I, even if only for a short time. 

There I sat, crying like a baby, when Jemima found 
me, and what she said was enough to cause my cheeks 
to burn with shame, for she spoke of what a girl who 
had come into Kentucky should be able to do at such 
a time as we had just passed through, until it seemed 
to me I had brought reproach not only upon myself 
because of my tears, but on all who knew me. 




142 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



THE WATCHFULNESS OF THE INDIANS 



Many of our men believed that the Indians had not 
given up the attack on our fort, but rather had drawn 
back into the forest, where it would be possible to watch 
us while they remained safely out of 
range, and that they were but waiting 
until they should be stronger in num- 
bers before making another attack. 

From this tirtie on, for many a day, 
we were as completely shut inside the 
stockade as if the gates had been 
barred on the outside. Our men 
could no longer go out even in the 
night, because the Indians entirely 
surrounded us and seemed content to 
hold our people prisoners. There 
was nothing to prevent them from 
hunting at any time, while we were 
actually hungry and sometimes suf- 
fering for water, when the cattle 
had drunk the spring dry. 
We had altogether, counting such marksmen as Billy, 
twenty-two who could be depended on to fight des- 
perately, and it was the business of us women and girls 
to see that these brave fellows had nothing to do but 
guard the fort; therefore we strove to keep a check 




THE SORTIE 143 

upon our own appetites, so that they might have the 
food they needed. 

I should give due praise to Simon Kenton, for I have 
heard father say again and again that, with the excep- 
tion of Colonel Boone, there was no one who did such 
valiant service; and in order that something of his 
part in the fight may be known, I am going to set down 
what he did when the second attack was made on the 
fort. 

THE SORTIE 

The Indians waited just beyond rifle range until so 
many of their allies had joined them that it seemed cer- 
tain they could overcome us; even then, instead of 
coming out into the open to fight, they tried one of their 
tricks. 

Our watchmen saw five or six warriors steal out of 
the forest toward the fort as if bent on trying to cHmb 
over the stockade; but they did not know that half 
a hundred or more had crept up toward the gate through 
the weeds and were lying there hidden from view. 

When Colonel Boone saw these few savages coming 
toward the fort, he ordered the gate to be thrown open, 
and out he ran, followed by Simon Kenton, my father, 
John Todd, and four or five others. 

Jemima and I were watching from one of the big 
houses and saw, to our horror, when Colonel Boone and 

HANNAH OF KENTUCKY — lO 



144 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



his followers were a short distance from the gate, all 
the hidden savages rise up from among the weeds and 
begin shooting. 

It seemed as if our people were doomed, for I could 
not believe even such mighty hunters could prevail 




against so many, and I shut my eyes. When I looked 
again, I saw our men, few though they were, standing 
there fighting for life, while the cowardly savages, who 
outnumbered the white men eight or ten to one, held 
off. 



MY FATHER WOUNDED 



145 



Then I heard Colonel Boone shout to our people at 
the big gate to stand ready when he made a dash, and 
almost in the same breath he called out for every man 
to run toward the fort. 



MY FATHER WOUNDED 



Imagine my feelings when I saw father fall under 
the fire of the Indians ! Then John Todd went down 




as if he were dead, and but an instant later Colonel 
Boone himself fell, his leg broken by a bullet, as we 
afterward learned. 

While father and John Todd were crawling toward 
the gate, and while those who remained uninjured were 



146 



HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 



firing and loading as rapidly as possible, hoping to 
hold the savages in check, Simon Kenton came up to 
Colonel Boone just as a powerful Indian was about 
to strike him with a tomahawk. Simon fired, and in- 
stantly the savage fell back dead. Before the smoke of 



Ui 




.'• L ---*% 



the powder cleared away Kenton had taken Colonel 
Boone upon his shoulders and was running toward the 
gate. 

OUR WOUNDED 

After that I saw only father. Thanks to the brave 
fellows who were holding the Indians in check at the 
risk of their own lives, he and the other wounded men 



OUR WOUNDED 



147 



had gained the shelter of the stockade. None of our 
people were killed outright, although of the nine who 
ventured through the gate, six returned wounded. 

No sooner were our men inside the stockade and the 
gate securely barred than the savages made another as- 




sault, this time rushing up to the very face of the pali- 
sade and shooting between the crevices of the logs, 
while we women and children, as before, loaded and 



148 HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

cleaned rifles, while our men fought regardless of their 
wounds. 

During two days and nights we fought nearly every 
moment of the time, striving only to save our lives, 
while the savages attacked again and again, spurred 
on by the hope of gaining the rewards which had been 
offered by General Hamilton. 

The Indians, after forty-eight hours of fighting, 
have drawn off once more into the forest, where they 
still watch over us, and I am sitting here writing this 
story to keep from thinking of what may be our fate 
if the Shawnees come against us again. 

I pray that whosoever reads what I have written 
will ask further about Boonesborough, for, even though 
we who are here now may not live many days longer, 
there is a great wish in my heart that our settlement may 
prosper as we have dreamed it would. 

And while learning what may have become of us who 
are now within the stockade, I hope that, among the 
others, there may be Remembered the girl who at the 
last moment is proud to call herself Hannah of Ken- 
tucky. 



BOOKS CONSULTED IN WRITING 
HANNAH OF KENTUCKY 

Abbott, John S. C. : Daniel Boone. Dodd, Mead & Co, 
Bruce, H. Addington : Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road. 

Macmillan Co. 
Collins, R. H. : History of Kentucky. Collins & Co. 
Connelly, Emma M. : Story of Kentucky. Lothrop, Lee, and 

Shepard Co. 
Drake, Daniel : Pioneer Life in Kentucky. Robert Clarke Co. 
Drake, Samuel Adams : Making of the Ohio Valley States. 

Charles Scribner's Sons. 
Ellet, Mrs. : Pioneer Women of the West. John C. Winston Co. 
Hulbert, a. B. : Boone's Wilderness Road. The Arthur H. 

Clark Co. 
Kinkead, Elizabeth Shelby : History of Kentuck)^. American 

Book Co. 
Perry (Frances M.) and Beebe (Katherine) : Four American 

Pioneers. American Book Co. 
Roosevelt, Theodore: Winning of the West. G. P. Putnam's 

Sons. 
Smith, Z. F. : History of Kentucky. Courier-Journal Co. 



149 



JAMES OTIS' S 
COLONIAL SERIES 



Calvert of Maryland Richard of Jamestown 

Mary of Plymouth Ruth of Boston 

Peter of New Amsterdam Stephen of Philadelphia 

Price, each, 35 cents. For years 3-5 



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AMERICAN BOOK COM PA NY 



(18) 



PUPILS' OUTLINE STUDIES 
IN UNITED STATES HISTORY 

$0.30 

By FRANCIS H.WHITE, A.M., Professor of History 
and Political Science, Kansas State Agricultural College 



A BLANK book, which is intended for the pupil's use in 
connection with any good history of the United States. 
It presents an original combination of devices con- 
veniently arranged, and affords an unusually clear idea of our 
country's history in which the chief events are deeply impressed 
on the learner's mind. The entire development of the United 
States has been taken up in the most logical manner, and facts 
of a similar nature have been grouped naturally together. 
^ This material is in the form of outhne maps, charts, tables, 
outhnes for essays, book references, etc., with full directions 
for the pupil, and suggestions to the teacher. Students are^ 
required to locate places, trace routes, follow lines of develop- 
ment, make pictures of objects illustrating civilization, write 
compositions, etc. 

^ The use of this book has demonstrated that the teaching of 
history need no longer present any difficulties to the teacher. 
Mere memorizing is discouraged, and the pupil is compelled 
to observe closely, to select essential facts, to classify his 
knowledge, to form opinions for himself, and to consult the 
leading authorities. The interest thus instilled will invariably 
lead to a sufficient grasp of the subject. 

^ The body of the book is divided into the following general 
headings: The Indians; Discovery and Exploration; Coloniza- 
tion; The Development of Nationality; Military History; 
The Progress of Civilization; Political History; and Our 
Flag and Its Defenders. While none of these periods is 
treated exhaustively, each is taken up so comprehensively and 
suggestively that further work can be made easily possible 
where more time is available. 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

C"7) 



UNITED STATES HISTORIES 

By JOHN BACH McMASTER, Professor of American 
History, University of Pennsylvania 



Primary History, ^0.60 School History, ^i.oo Brief History, ^i.oo 



THESE Standard histories are remarkable for their 
freshness and vigor, their authoritative statements, 
and their impartial treatment. They give a well- 
proportioned and interesting narrative of the chief events 
in our history, and are not loaded down with extended 
and unnecessary bibliographies. The illustrations are his- 
torically authentic, and show, besides well-known scenes 
and incidents, the implements and dress characteristic of the 
various periods. The maps are clear and full, and well 
executed. 

«[[ The PRIMARY HISTORY is simply and interestingly 
written, with no long or involved sentences. Although brief, 
it touches upon all matters of real importance to schools in 
the founding and building of our country, but copies beyond 
the understanding of children are omitted. The summaries 
at the end of the chapters, besides serving to emphasize the 
chief events, are valuable for review. 

^ In the SCHOOL HISTORY by far the larger part of 
the book has been devoted to the history of the United States 
since 1783^ From the beginning the attention of the student 
is directed to causes and results rather than to isolated events. 
Special prominence is given to the social and economic 
development of the country. 

^ In the BRIEF HISTORY nearly one-half the book 
is devoted to the colonial period. The text proper, while 
brief, is complete in itself; and footnotes in smaller type 
permit of a more comprehensive course if desired. Short 
summaries, and suggestions for collateral reading, are provided. 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



(■■6) 



STEADMANS' WRITING 

By ANDREW H. STEADMAN, Supervisor of Penmanship, Cincinnati 
Public Schools, and CARRIE D. STEADMAN, formerly Assistant 
Supervisor of Penmanship. 



8 Pads , . . Each, 15 cents Chart. In Five Sheets, . $1.50 



STEADMANS' Graded Lessons in Writing train the 
child to maintain a truly healthful position, and to use 
the large muscles of the upper arm and shoulder as the 
motive power in writing. As the ability to write automatic- 
ally is acquired, a correct sitting habit is inculcated; stoop- 
ing over the desk, cramping the lung space, bringing the eyes 
so close to the paper that they are permanently injured, be- 
come impossible. The child is no longer subjected to the 
harmful tendencies of former days. 

^This system teaches the child to write a good, characteristic 
hand that will remain with him through life. The course is 
presented in eight pads. Each pad is a complete cycle, 
covering the work for an entire year, and containing forty 
sheets, eighty pages, three and one-third times as much as 
a copybook. Each page presents a central idea, around 
which the lesson is constructed. The drills constitute a ser- 
ies of graded, specialized, physical culture exercises. These 
exercises are so devised and arranged that the pupils are led, 
by easy gradations, from the simplest forms and letters to the 
more complex. Each drill is based upon the movement re- 
quired to form the letter or letters under consideration during 
that particular writing lesson. 

^The work is simplicity itself. It teaches an easy, graceful 
style of free handwriting with full play for the writer's indi- 
viduality. It requires no extra exercise books, no teacher's 
manual, no blank pads, and no additional paper. Any teacher 
can teach it with ease without further assistance, and any 
child will find no difficulty in performing it successfully, and 
in acquiring a handwriting that is legible, rapid, and automatic. 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

_ 



STEPS IN ENGLISH 

By A. C. McLEAN, A.M., Principal of Luckey School, 
Pittsburg; THOMAS C. BLAISDELL, A.M., Pro- 
fessor of English, Fifth Avenue Normal High School, 
Pittsburg; and JOHN MORROW, Superintendent of 
Schools, Allegheny, Pa. 



Book One. For third, fourth, and fifth years $0.40 

Book Two. For sixth, seventh, and eighth years 60 



THIS series presents a new method of teaching language 
which is in marked contrast with the antiquated systems 
in vogue a generation ago. The books meet modern 
conditions in every respect, and teach the child how to ex- 
press his thoughts in language rather than furnish an undue 
amount of grammar and rules, 

*[[ From the start the attempt has been made to base the work 
on subjects in which the child is genuinely interested. Lessons 
in writing language are employed simultaneously with those in 
conversadon, while picture-study, the study of literary selec- 
tions, and letter-wridng are presented at frequent intervals. 
The lessons are of a proper length, well arranged, and well 
graded. The books mark out the daily work for the teacher 
in a clearly defined manner by telling him what to do, and 
when to do it. Many unique mechanical devices, e. g., a 
labor-saving method of correcting papers, a graphic system of 
diagramming, etc., form a valuable feature of the work. 
*[[ These books are unlike any other series now on the 
market. They do not shoot over the heads of the pupils, 
nor do they show a marked effort in wridng down to 
the supposed level of young minds. They do not contain 
too much technical grammar, nor are they filled with what 
is sentimental and meaningless. No exaggerated attendon is 
given to analyzing by diagramming, and to excepdons to ordi- 
nary rules, which have proved so unsatisfactory. 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

C8i> 



MILNE'S PROGRESSIVE 
ARITHMETICS 

By WILLIAM J. MILNE, Ph.D., LL.D., President of 
New York State Normal College, Albany, N. Y. 



THREE BOOK SERIES 

First Book $0.35 

.40 

■ . -45 



Second Book . 
Third Book . 



TWO BOOK SERIES 

First Book $0.35 

Complete Book . . .65 



IN these series the best modern methods of instruction have 
been combined with those older features which gave the 
author's previous arithmetics such marvelous popularity. 
^ Built upon a definite pedagogical plan, these books teach 
the processes of arithmetic in such a way as to develop the 
reasoning faculties, and to train the power of rapid, accurate, 
and skillful manipulation of numbers. The inductive method 
is applied, leading the pupils to discover truths for them- 
selves ; but it is supplemented by model solutions and careful 
explanations of each step. 

^ Each new topic is first carefully developed, and then en- 
forced by sufficient practice to fix it thoroughly in the mind. 
The problems, which have been framed with the greatest care, 
relate to a wide range of subjects drawn from modern life and 
industries. Reviews in various forms are a marked feature. 
Usefi:lness is the keynote. 

^ In the First and Second Books the amount of work that 
may be accomplished in a half year is taken as the unit of 
classification, and the various subjects are treated topically, 
each being preceded by a brief resume of the concepts 
already acquired. In the Third Book the purely topical 
method is used in order to give the pupil a coherent 
knowledge of each subject. The Complete Book covers 
the work usually given to pupils during the last four years 
of school. 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



(57) 



SEP 5 1912 



L 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 570 792 4 




